Hello, All! A weekend visit to see my daughter has kept me busy. Home now and ready to write! I miss it when I can’t! Our visits with our daughter always remind me that she is all grown up now.  She has her own apartment, job, and new friends.  I will always be her mom but this is a new season in our relationship, and I am cautiously ascertaining how to navigate it.

As I look back on my own life, I realize that I, too, had that “grown and gone” mentality. Now I understand what my parents must have felt. There is definitely much to be thankful for with this new life my daughter has.  She was blessed to graduate, and procure a job in two weeks. We laugh and say how thankful we are as parents that she is not living in our proverbial basement. I constantly remind myself of the upside of this growing up experience.  However, I still have this crippling pain in my heart each time we drive away and leave her waving in her doorway.

These feelings prompt me to think of my relationship with my Heavenly Father.  How very often in my life have I had that “grown and gone” mentality with God.  In your twenties, you think you have the world by the tail, much too busy with life to check in for long visits and relationship building.  Then come children and the all-encompassing reality that you barely have time to breathe, much less time to stop even if for a moment to spend time with your Father.

So, this must be how God feels when I live my life as though I don’t need him anymore at least in the present moment. Of course, I will come running when I do. Don’t we always! Therefore, it is with new resolve that I will prioritize my relationship with my Father regardless of the season of life I am in. I love the verse in the picture above which pretty much covers instructions for all seasons.

Each time we drive away, I leave my daughter in the very capable hands of her Heavenly Father and remind myself that she was never only mine.  She has and always will Be God’s, and I leave her at the feet of one who loved her enough to send His Son to die for her. She will be safe in His hands, and I will find rest in knowing that to be true,  gradually more at peace with this season of our lives.

I took this picture at Piper and Leaf Artisan Tea Company  (scripture added) where we enjoyed a cup of tea and made a memory. This new season is not all bad, just different. Change can be difficult and good all at the same time. Look to God in each new season to see what “good” He has promised for you there. To God Be the Glory!