Empty Nest...Full Faith

Well, the day finally arrived...and I survived it with only one brief meltdown. I wasn't quite prepared for the deafening silence that follows. One day the house is teeming with noise as three young adults and a forty pound puppy go about the life of summer break and then the next, they pile into their cars and drive away to a new home, a new life, a new journey. Exciting isn't it?

Yes, it is very exciting. However, I'm discovering it comes with a new form of stress. Have I taught them all they need to know to live on their own in an apartment? Have I encouraged them enough on what wonderful people they are so that they will be confident and true to themselves and not give in to peer pressure. Have I instilled in them the ability to make wise decisions...to maintain their faith in a world that will tell them its wrong...to keep God in their lives instead of the worldly things that will be vying for that space?

I took one final look at them as I hugged each one goodbye and walked out the door. There is nothing left to do but let them go. It is only in letting them go that I will find the answers to those questions. It is only in standing on their own that they will be forced to make the decision of what form their faith will take. It is scary for me. I still want to guide and convince...but that time is over, they must stand on their own. When the fear begins to overtake me I find myself comforted by one thought. God is with them just as God is with me. God holds them as tightly, as mercifully, as compassionately, and wonderfully as God did me when I went to college and chose another path from what I was taught by my parents. Through it all, God never left me, although I left God. Out of steadfast and faithful love, God ultimately welcomed me back where I belonged. Thanks be to God.

Now it is time to trust God will be the same for my children: faithfully, closely, mercifully, compassionately, wonderfully present...no matter where they are.

Thanks be to God.