Senior Recognition

Yesterday we had ‘senior recognition’ at our church. The beginning of a fun-filled week of graduation excitement as M gets ready to spread his wings and fly, for real, into the world of young adulthood. I’m truly excited and so very proud of him, so where does this sadness come from? As I’ve written before, I never long to go back to those harry-scarey days of parenting while gleaning knowledge along the way…yet, there's a sense of melancholy as we face the fact that our youngest will be leaving home this fall. Throughout the years of parenting C and I have always felt that our # one job as parents [after leading them to the Lord] was to help prepare our children to be self-sufficient adults. We hope, that with the Lord’s help and guidance, we’ve done that to some degree. We are blessed to have boys, young men, who love the Lord and know His presence. Still, I feel a sense of sadness as I prepare to let them go out into the world. It’s so hard to no longer have that day-to-day contact that I long for..

So I have sense of sadness of no longer being able to be fully there for them as they face life’s decisions. I’m really afraid that I’ll have a true ‘come-a-part’ at graduation much like I did before walking down the aisle of my little brother’s wedding as the world’s oldest bridesmaid [well, not quite...my older sister was one too. –I’m 13 years older and she’s 17 years older than him.] I hope my boys know that we’ll always BE HERE for them, no matter what. I’m so enjoying the transition from disciplinarian to adult-sharing that we’re having these days…

So I have a sense of pride that our boys have a good head on their shoulders. I hope we’ve taught them good decision-making skills. I’ve prayed for the Lord to protect them and help them grow physically, emotionally, and spiritually throughout their lives – and He has blessed them. They’re both bright, healthy and strong young men and I know they know the Lord. I believe in the power of prayer and will continue to lift them up all the days of my life. May they allow the Lord to guide them in this great ride we call life.

I hope that they [and I] can live their life much like Mandisa talks about in her book, “I don’t want to stand before the judgement of Christ and hear, ‘You did a decent job, but you should have trusted Me more and praised Me more often.’ I want to hear Jesus say, ‘You believed in Me, you trusted Me, and you didn’t hold anything back.” I want them to dream the dreams God has for them! And if we live our lives with this attitude how can I be sad if the Lord takes them far away from me physically? So I have a sense of humbleness as I recognize yet again that God loves them more than I could possibly love them... and He has a plan…and it's going to be wonderful watching it all unfold during these next few years -