8-27-18<\/p>\n
She’ll take the painting in the hallway, The one she did in junior high. I usually trot this song and video out every year around back-to-school time. First, old as I am, manly-man I may be, I get a little pile of Kleenex ready. This song by Doug Rider and Matt Rollings, a chart record for Doug\u2019s wife Suzy Bogguss, is not a gospel song\u2026 but it is spiritual.<\/p>\n \u201cSpiritual\u201d in the sense that family bonds are sacred. The lyrics are about a girl going off to college, and they can apply to children leaving home for camp the first time; or boarding school; or military college. I get misty-eyed, even when recalling my own children\u2019s first solo runs to the grocery store\u2026<\/p>\n Oh, letting go \u2013 There\u2019s nothing in the way now, Moms and dads and children. There are bonds that should never be broken\u2026 sometimes, sadly, they seem to be broken\u2026 but in truth never can be broken. Spiritual? It\u2019s biological too: Family relationships are intertwined with a weave that is so dense and complicated (thank God) that our affections become part of our DNA, just like freckles and buck teeth.<\/p>\n The passage of time, and the rites<\/em> of passage, whether the years of rearing a family are harmonious or rocky, have the same \u201cbottom line.\u201d Parting or major \u201cbreaks\u201d are seldom, if ever, welcome. Pieces of each of us part-and-break, too. <\/p>\n Mother sits down at the table, So many things she’d like to do. A few years ago here I observed that in every family \u2013 once again, harmonious or rocky; large or small, nuclear or blended, single-parent or adoption situation \u2013 there is hubbub, and crowded moments\u2026 silly problems and the occasional real crisis\u2026 \u201cmajor\u201d homework assignments\u2026 disagreements with classmates\u2026 \u201cfirst loves\u201d that melt away; and first dates\u2026 driving tests and applying for college\u2026<\/p>\n Applying for college??? Wasn\u2019t it last week they could barely climb aboard the school bus? I remember saying in a rare moment of wisdom, that when you manage a family, the days crawl by \u2013 and the years fly by. How does that happen? <\/p>\n Oh, letting go \u2013 There\u2019s nothing in the way now, The element that makes the tears sweet, or anyway less bitter, is the pride a parent feels when we do<\/em> let go. It\u2019s the way life is supposed to work. Spreading their wings. Yes, part of God\u2019s plan, the Family unit that He ordained for His children. <\/p>\n You pray that the children will shed some tears, too, occasionally \u2013 but they\u2019re off in their new lives now, busy. And the grandchildren\u2026 well, there is a season; turn, turn. Just make an accounting to God, and to your inner self, how you handled His most important assignment in your life, training those little birds to leave the nest.<\/p>\n
\nAnd that old lamp up in the attic, She’ll need some light to study by,
\nShe’s had 18 years To get ready for this day,
\nShe should be past the tears… She cries some anyway.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s room enough to fly.
\nAnd even though she’s spent her whole life waiting
\nIt’s never easy… letting go.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nSpend more time out in the garden, Now she can get those books read too,
\nShe’s had 18 years To get ready for this day,
\nShe should be past the tears… She cries some anyway.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThere\u2019s room enough to fly.
\nAnd even though she’s spent her whole life waiting
\nIt’s never easy… letting go.<\/em><\/p>\n