Tiny gym….

 Tiny gym…

I realized I housed a tiny gym…only about 14” x14” x14”….that’s tiny…

I realized that as I was flexing four fingers that aren’t in a cast while watching 10 newly emerged butterflies flexing their wings….they open and close them 4-5 times, then rest …just as I was doing…then repeat over and over again… finally they try to move to another area, some belly flop, flapping wildly until they get their minuscule feet under them again…each time getting stronger, but resting frequently…

They are getting ready to be released into the bigger world…later this week…

Practice before releasing as a parent is scary, amazing, gratifying, a blessing, tear jerking, and a while more ….

Those first overnights…or first camp experiences….times with friends or grandparents…all practice for the journey away from home…packing “what you need”, as piles of stuffed animals rather than clothes fill the suitcase…or forgetting pjs or underwear…saying, “I can do it”…

Until, we all reach the time of the goodbyes…and they are their way down the street, the next state, around the world, college, first apartment, marriage…

Then comes the harder tests, the advice over the phone, the new adventures…

Have we grounded them enough, have we helped seek the right counsel, the right people, the right life, the right decisions…have we prepared them enough….as we watch them flex their wings over and over….

Now as a grandparent, I watch my children launch their children into the world…I ask the same questions…watching my grandchildren spread their wings…what a gift…

Thank YOU…

Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it.

Proverbs 22:6

Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.

Psalm 127:3-5

The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; by understanding he established the heavens; by his knowledge the deeps broke open, and the clouds drop down the dew. 

My son, do not lose sight of these— keep sound wisdom and discretion, and they will be life for your soul and adornment for your neck.

Proverbs 3:19-22 

Hear, my son, and be wise, and direct your heart in the way.

Proverbs 23:19

Proverbs 31….