Don’t Go Back
I often hear and see pictures of young parents dropping their children off on the first day of school. I am not a parent but my heart simply melts seeing the expressions on the parents’ faces, the tears, and holding back a chuckle or two because it’s so precious. We all end up laughing together in the hours and days to come. Everyone knows that it never feels good, nor is it easy, to have to leave your child with someone you barely know. Yet, you may feel a little comfort in knowing that they have presented themselves to have a passion for teaching young minds and it just so happens that yours is included in the bunch. The longest walk is going back through the door, where you both came, holding hands though only one of you will be free to go. It takes everything inside of you not going to go back and get the one your heart has been knitted with and hug them one more time or completely call off the entire year to keep them home longer. You can convince yourself that you all can continue to be companions to further solidify the bond you both share – like it’s really needed.
You reason with yourself to not go back and get them because deep down inside you know it is time to let them go and be taught by another because that’s just how this culture is. Parents will not always be around to teach their little ones all the ways of life. No matter how old the ancient parable maybe it remains to be true: It takes a village to raise a child, so let the village be the village. As heartbreaking as that moment is, you stick to the decision to not go back. They are ready to start learning how this world works without you in the next room or even hovering directly over them.
Last week, I wrote about Letting the Little Girl Go and how it cannot be the little girl or little boy within us dictating how we live our lives while holding us to the disappointments and shortcomings we have failed to measure up to. This week, I want to encourage you, just as I had to encourage myself, to continue on to the car and drive off – stick to your decision! Place your younger self in the hands of the greatest teacher of life, the Lord. He is the one who can teach that little girl or that little boy that it is okay that the present-day person looking in the mirror is okay exactly where they are and more importantly right on time according to His timetable.
You have to be like that of a parent dropping their child off at school for the first time after they have spent the last 2,095+ days together. It will hurt to leave behind the thoughts, perceptions, comforts, and mindsets at first, but you have to trust in the Lord that you are making the right decision (Proverbs 3:5). I promise you that it will be the Lord ministering to you through the Holy Spirit to heal your heart in the depths of your soul.
He will open up your younger mind to let them see that in the scripture where it says, ” Eyes have not seen, nor ears heard, nor has it entered into the hearts of man the things which the Lord has prepared for those who love him” (1 Cor 2:9). Did you know that it REALLY DOES INCLUDE THE PERSON READING it as well? Sometimes we haven’t believed because our minds stayed in our preschool and elementary safety zones while our bodies grew. We even held on to the faith of our close family members and didn’t have a leg to stand on for ourselves. So how in the world could I stand to be blessed after everything I didn’t get accomplished by now?! My question to you is who says it’s not accomplished? More importantly, what is your definition of accomplishment?
If we stay true to our decision and allow the Lord to minister to the little girl or the little boy within us then we will become confident in this “I was young but now I’m old and I’ve never seen his righteous forsaken nor His seed begging bread.” (Ps 37:25)
Comment with an encouraging word to another reader on our journey to keep going. What encouraging scripture do you personally use during your growth spurts?
#KeepPushing
Maturity is calling
~TracyJ
