Helping adult children find their paths

Here's a reply from Rob's mom (See "Trusting your intuitions," June 6 post) -- which is so humble, so earnest, so wise, it deserves its own space.

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One of my standpoints as a Christian Science mother has always been:

I don't know what God is working out for my children or what human path they should choose, as I am not their real Father-Mother, the All-knowing.

So I turn to God at every opportunity to ask Him if and how I can help my children, remembering He has a much better plan than I could ever come up with.

I know that I don't have to pray that God will give ME the answer as to what I should tell them. I say to them (now as adults) that I have no idea as to what they should do or what God is telling them, but I certainly can help them discover what that is! And most of the time, it seems to work pretty well!

A final note--I think that when they call, if I say "well, here's what I think..." that kind of conversation won't go far and they may stop calling.

I often find my best approach is to ask them low-key questions about how the decision they are wrestling with will affect various aspects of their lives, and let them reason out the answers as I listen. And then encourage their best answers.

I hope that the way that I handle it, I will still keep getting the calls and we'll keep the lines open so we both learn.

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This sounds like a mom who has learned how comfortably God mothers both her and her children. What do you think?