How Quickly the Years Had Passed
The morning before Thanksgiving I woke up and was blessed by the sight of fresh snow as it fell softly to the ground. As I sipped my first cup of morning coffee, I found myself gazing out my side window. The flakes were big and beautiful, the kind you try to catch on your tongue. Watching the freshness tumble silently to the ground, my mind drifted off to a simpler time; a time when my children were small and I could celebrate with them, the wonder of what God had created. Remembering my children with their wide eyes and busy play gave my heart just what it needed to start my active day. It seems like just yesterday we were building snowmen in the back yard together, yet when I started my Thanksgiving morning I soon realized how quickly the years had passed.
This has been the quietest Thanksgiving since as far back as I can
The morning before Thanksgiving I woke up and was blessed by the sight of fresh snow as it fell softly to the ground. As I sipped my first cup of morning coffee, I found myself gazing out my side window. The flakes were big and beautiful, the kind you try to catch on your tongue. Watching the freshness tumble silently to the ground, my mind drifted off to a simpler time; a time when my children were small and I could celebrate with them, the wonder of what God had created. Remembering my children with their wide eyes and busy play gave my heart just what it needed to start my active day. It seems like just yesterday we were building snowmen in the back yard together, yet when I started my Thanksgiving morning I soon realized how quickly the years had passed.This has been the quietest Thanksgiving since as far back as I can
remember. I am a bit melancholy today as I realize how my life consists of one transition after another. I spent the bulk of my adult life doing my best to make sur
e my kids had good and decent lives. This would be equivalent to what most parents think of as a life better than their own. The Lord has blessed me tremendously throughout my life and my four children, which I spoke of in an earlier post, have played a major role in the process of the person I have become. Realizing that they are grown and no longer need me to be the mom that I have always been has made me a little sad.
As I am now able to enjoy the pleasures of watching my adult children find the place the Lord has chosen for them in this world, I am able to release them each at just the right time. This is not always a smooth transition, yet it is necessary to their becoming stable adults. Each one of my children in their unique way has made their break from the family in which they grew up. They have taken steps to detached from our family and have gone in a new direction in order to ready themselves for the development necessary to become the people they were created to be.
Our youngest son, now 20 has recently moved about 12 hours away from home and with him leaving though I thought I was prepared to let him go, I did not realize that it would only add to my sadness come holiday time. I am one of those kinds of people who take life one day at a time and for me I thought I was prepared to let him go. It was inevitable after all and he is the last of four to take the steps necessary to prepare himself for a life where he will grow to self reliance rather than family reliance.
I’m not sure really if it is the fact that our youngest son has recently moved out or the fact that all of my children have gone on to make lives for themselves and that his leaving magnifies the gaps between my life and theirs. Wait a minute…who is growing up here, me or them? Sometimes I wonder. It is sad to me though come holiday time when my home is so quiet after spending so many years with the love and laughter of my four children.
Life has a way of taking a number of twists and turns. The place I am in today is much different from the life I used to know. Praise the Lord! The gift of my children is a testament to his great love and mercy concerning me…one who is not worthy to even wash his feet. I am just blown away by the understanding that he truly gave his life in exchange for mine. He has brought my life to fullness that I never dreamed possible.
My family has taken on a new composition and it is time for the next phase of my life to begin. I ask myself, Am I ever truly ready for these transitions in my life? The answer is, probably not, but I know that it is part of the cycle of life and that God will continue to use all that life offers to make me more and more like the person he in visions me to be. The Lord has been so faithful in my life and in each new phase I grow closer to him. I need only be willing and obedient and never to forget how much I need him. We serve a good and merciful God, Amen? Amen!
e my kids had good and decent lives. This would be equivalent to what most parents think of as a life better than their own. The Lord has blessed me tremendously throughout my life and my four children, which I spoke of in an earlier post, have played a major role in the process of the person I have become. Realizing that they are grown and no longer need me to be the mom that I have always been has made me a little sad.As I am now able to enjoy the pleasures of watching my adult children find the place the Lord has chosen for them in this world, I am able to release them each at just the right time. This is not always a smooth transition, yet it is necessary to their becoming stable adults. Each one of my children in their unique way has made their break from the family in which they grew up. They have taken steps to detached from our family and have gone in a new direction in order to ready themselves for the development necessary to become the people they were created to be.
Our youngest son, now 20 has recently moved about 12 hours away from home and with him leaving though I thought I was prepared to let him go, I did not realize that it would only add to my sadness come holiday time. I am one of those kinds of people who take life one day at a time and for me I thought I was prepared to let him go. It was inevitable after all and he is the last of four to take the steps necessary to prepare himself for a life where he will grow to self reliance rather than family reliance.
I’m not sure really if it is the fact that our youngest son has recently moved out or the fact that all of my children have gone on to make lives for themselves and that his leaving magnifies the gaps between my life and theirs. Wait a minute…who is growing up here, me or them? Sometimes I wonder. It is sad to me though come holiday time when my home is so quiet after spending so many years with the love and laughter of my four children.
Life has a way of taking a number of twists and turns. The place I am in today is much different from the life I used to know. Praise the Lord! The gift of my children is a testament to his great love and mercy concerning me…one who is not worthy to even wash his feet. I am just blown away by the understanding that he truly gave his life in exchange for mine. He has brought my life to fullness that I never dreamed possible.
My family has taken on a new composition and it is time for the next phase of my life to begin. I ask myself, Am I ever truly ready for these transitions in my life? The answer is, probably not, but I know that it is part of the cycle of life and that God will continue to use all that life offers to make me more and more like the person he in visions me to be. The Lord has been so faithful in my life and in each new phase I grow closer to him. I need only be willing and obedient and never to forget how much I need him. We serve a good and merciful God, Amen? Amen!
3 comments:
Things in life are always changing, aren't they? Good thing we serve a God who is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow!
How true this is...these transitions are not easy, are they? I miss that youngest one of yours too! :-) I think that perhaps I will always miss the days when my children were small. I'll miss the sound of their child voices, their Christmas morning excitiment, their trust and reliance on me. I know, as you have written about, that they need to grow. And this is good, and part of life, and just as it should be. But we do miss them. And we keep heading toward the goal..the next challenge, the next transition. Emmanuel..God is with us!
After reading this, I will go tell my daughter goodnight again with a hug and kiss. Thanks for the reminder to cherish the moments we have, as kids do grow up so fast.
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