
Today is a big day in my family. My twins started Kindergarten today, my oldest son started Middle school, and it’s the first day I will have spent more than a couple of hours on my own almost 6 years. This is a day that I have been looking forward to, with both dread and hope, for a long time. To be able to sit down and finish something without being interrupted a million times. To be able to go to the store or for a walk on my own, without having to spend 20 minutes to get everyone ready so we can actually walk out the door. But at the same time, I knew I would miss my kids.
So on this day of mixed emotions, I find myself pondering how God felt when He parted with Christ to send Him to Earth. The Bible doesn’t tell us how God the Father dealt with that situation. If it pained Him to feel the distance between Him and Jesus, but I imagine that it did. Jesus wasn’t really gone, but they were separated in a new way. Just like I’m still very much a mom of young children – I’m just watching them spread their wings a little.
When Jesus left Heaven and came to Earth, He and God the Father were separated in a new way, but God was still with Him. They communicated through prayer and they were still one. Jesus knew what His Father wanted. Today, I have to trust that my children are taking with them the values that we have instilled, and that they remember that even though I’m not there, they can still talk to me when they come home – and we can all pray. I can pray for them throughout the day, and they can always talk to God when they need help.
Motherhood is both a mixture of guidance and letting go. We shed tears of joy and tears of sorrow – and sometimes the two are mixed together. I find my rest today in knowing that even though I am separated from my children and they are starting new phases in their life where I can’t follow them, God is always with them.
So what will I do today?
That’s a question I’ve contemplated for years. Most recently I have considered painting the bathroom, spending the entire day doing nothing, or trying to finish everything on my to-do list that has accumulated over the past 6 years. But when it comes right down to it, I’m going to spend some time in prayer – actually read my Bible without being interrupted. And then, I’m planning on finishing my current work in progress, a prayer book for teen girls that I’m co-authoring with Shelley Hitz. It seems a fitting choice as I started volunteering for her ministry FindYourTrueBeauty.com shortly after the twins were born and I became a stay-at-home mom.
But what about you? Are you facing any new milestones in your life today? How will you face them?
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Heather Hart is first and foremost a servant of Christ, whose desire is to grow more like Jesus each day. She enjoys sharing her faith with others through writing and strives to please Christ in all she does. Heather and her husband Paul live in Texas, where she fills her days caring for her four young children, and teaching them about God’s Word. You can find out more about her ministry to teen girls at: FindYourTrueBeauty.com/devos
Heather Hart
/ August 26, 2013Thanks for hosting me here on the GNF blog today.