Yet Another Milestone

I sat down here to check some of the blogs I follow and found that Mel's Coffee Break had a new post. Only 10 minutes old, in fact. Seems a milestone occurred tonight: her "baby" lost his first tooth. She said she had no idea why she would do such, but when he ran down to tell her, she cried. Oh, sweet Melanie, may I suggest that you go ahead and invest in your favorite brand of tissues.

I've shed my own supply of tears this week. Our middle child took a monumental walk himself. Along with his wife, dad, older brother and in-laws, I watched him receive his college diploma from Kennesaw State University on Thursday. Yes, there's something about a graduation processional that makes my eyes water each time I experience it. Thursday's graduates marched in to the long standing tradition at KSU of the bagpiper leading the way piping out Beethoven's Ode to Joy. But it has been 3 days now, and I'm still crying. Maybe it's the hard work I know he had to perform to get to this place, or maybe it's just knowing what a major milestone this is in any young person's life. But it probably has more to do with the fact that I'm just so stinkin' proud of him for hanging in there and doing the hard thing. And for doing it well.

But, Melanie, I remember when he, too, lost his first tooth. And it wasn't so long ago when he graduated from pre-school. And, yes, he really did accept his diploma with his little neck tie bound around his head like Rambo. Those years from that graduation to his high school graduation and now his college were full and fun, but they went by like a flash. And so maybe that's yet another reason for the tears. And as much as a mother wants to hang on to them, they come and go very swiftly, and she's left standing with a full heart but an empty nest.

But truly, would I want it any other way but this? Is this not God's purpose for parents and their children? To do anything less than let them grow up is to deny God's plan for their lives. To do anything less is to deny the command given in Genesis to multiply and subdue the earth.


And so, Robert, we bless you tonight as you stand at this door open before you; for beyond the liminal is a country that is as bountiful as it is plentiful. It is the land of More. More revelation, more authority, more kingdom power. More victory, more vision, and more territory. It is in this place that God calls you to know more of His passion, His love, His grace. To experience more of Himself.

Yes, your father and I bless you. Go and subdue the land.

Now would somebody please pass those tissues.

Just an ordinary moment...