New Beginnings and Letting Go

This month last year was a very painful one for me. I was letting go of my firstborn son Landon as he was graduating from high school. Believe me when I say it was very difficult. I actually had moments of just plain weeping at the thought.

I don't know why honestly. I was still going to be seeing him. He was only moving a few miles down the road to Norcross. I could call him anytime. It was just the idea I guess that he was not my little boy anymore. Now he had not actually been my little boy for a long time. In fact his desire to grow up had been strong from birth. There were many difficult arguments last spring prior to graduation because he was so ready to move on to the next phase of his life. And yet I weeped openly at his graduation. Letting go for his new beginning was not easy for me. I know many of you can relate because letting go of a child is part of your past, present, or future.

But you know it is probably a good thing some transitions are forced on us like graduation: we may not let go without it. This would prompt an unhealthy situation where the child won't grow up. Or on the other hand it could cause a situation where the child breaks away only by force or even violence.

But letting go is essential for the process of life to continue. I have often wondered if birds cry when they force their young out of the nest. God has instilled an instinct in them to make the transition possible but that doesn't mean the birds don't cry when they do. I wonder if the young birds cry too; how could their parents be so mean. But in the end when the young are soaring on the wind, building nests of their own, and securing the future with new hatchlings the parents aren't weeping then. I wonder then if birds smile...not just the parents but the young too.

New things are never easy but almost always necessary. God has designed natural changes into creation and given animals instincts for it. Certain patterns of life like graduation create the need for change in our own lives. So change is not our enemy--though it oftens feels like it is. That is why we need God to help us with letting go.

He truly understands the pain...letting his son come to earth knowing what he was going to be facing there had to painful beyond our comprehension. And yet he did it. But I think he saw something in the future that helped him let go...he saw you and I soaring, freed from sin, and living for him. And then God smiled in spite of his pain and let his son go. May God give you the ability with any change to see the beautful future awaiting you after the change. May God help you let go.