Leaving

Tomorrow my oldest daughter leaves home to attend Calvin College in Grand Rapids, Michigan. She has been a joy and it was great having her at home this past year as she worked and attended the local community college. I came home late from a meeting last night to see the living room covered in all her things as she organized them and began packing it all up for the move east. How do you send one of your kids off? How do you really release them? What do you say and feel and do? Of course, this has been the goal all along and I trust we have prepared her for this next great step, yet in the moment it comes, what does a parent do?

I was reminded of Jesus this morning and his farewell to the disciples. His prayer in John 14-17 shows a bit of how He sent them off to their next step. It was actually quite simple. He expressed His love, He prayed for the Spirit's work in them, He warned them of things to come, He encouraged them in the Lord and He served them. You can feel His love for them in His prayer and even sense His desire not to be parted from them ... even so,  He loves, prays, encourages, serves... and then He releases them to the awesome things for which God had prepared them.

My prayer for my daughter as she steps "apart" from us is that she will know the key for living as Jesus shared it in John 15

 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in Him,

he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing."