Oh that there had been “the blog” when my kids were growing up. I could’ve regaled you with stories of their antics, their funny sayings, their “firsts”. But, as it happens, I’m writing the first entry to my blog poised on the edge of my almost-empty nest. I guess I will be writing, now, of new kinds of “firsts” for my girls; a new kind of “first” for me.
E graduates in two weeks, and like every other mother before me, I’m filled with bitter-sweet emotion; thoughts of the little girl grown, able to remember the smell of her hair, the crooked turn of her 
giant permanent tooth next to her tiny baby tooth, the heft of her little toddler body. Oh, but it’s tempting to go back in time – stop time, even – and keep them there in that place where you were their everything. But to what end? To keep them a perpetual baby, needy and unable to function on their own? There is a natural progression of life for a reason.
Don’t you love how God doesn’t live in the past? He knows everything about our past, certainly, but he doesn’t hold us there. He’s ever walking ahead of us, encouraging us to step forward and keep moving ahead, making the way clear and showing us the great work He has for us to do. He’s always there, giving us strength right when we need it and expecting us to reach and climb and grow.
So, poised as I am on the edge of this nest, I get ready to send another young bird on her first solo flight; trusting her Greater Parent to be where I can’t and lead her to her own great work. I’ll also trust Him to do the same with me.