I feel like I have officially “liked” all of the back school pictures from my friends on social media as I sit here sipping coffee and thinking…time doesn’t wait on mamas who don’t want their babies to grow up, does it? It seems like yesterday I was sitting in my car wiping back tears because I left my now 8th grader sobbing in the lunchroom for his first day of school. That particular morning he was so nervous and it broke his heart to have to leave me for the very first time for a whole day. This morning he had those blame AirPods in his ears, staring at his phone as we made our way out the door. When we got to the school he hopped out of the backseat and made his way inside without hesitation, muttering a faint “bye…love you” as if he didn’t want anyone to see him get out of the car with his mama and step-dad…because we ain’t cool enough for his 8th grade heart.
Time is a tricky thief, isn’t it?
Ecclesiasties 3:1 and 4-5 says,
“For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance…
Man, I feel like weeping this morning as a I stare at pictures of my children from when they were younger with their lunchboxes and backpacks too big for their tiny bodies…to this morning on my front porch towering over me having grown into deeper voices and their once, too big backpacks.
Instead of wiping away tears, I am smiling. Not because my house is quiet and I might actually get to finish my coffee that has already turned lukewarm, but because that season of weeping back in kindergarten has brought us to this season of laughter in the things to come. Proverbs 31:25 says…she laughs without fear of the future. I can laugh without fear because I know that God is in control. He holds my future and their future in the palm of His hand. I see the evidence of His goodness all over my life on their faces. He has blessed me with two beautiful children that may not always get it right and I am sure there will be seasons of weeping and mourning, but there have been so many times of laughter and lots of dance parties, too. In their faces, I see the handiwork of an Almighty God.
I can’t look at time being a tricky thief, I suppose. I have to look at time and the sound of the ticking clock across the room as moving forward into another season. Each season is beautiful in its own way and without each one, we wouldn’t be able to appreciate the next one that is coming. Seasons come and seasons go, but I must be reminded that the Lord never changes. That same God that comforted the scared, crying kindergartner is the same God that loves the smart-mouthed teenager. God hasn’t left them or forsaken them and His plans are good for them if they allow Him to be Lord of their life. As we sat in the garage this morning praying for a great first day and for their protection, I hope they know every season must start and end with the Lord.
I can sit in this quiet house this morning with a smiles on my face because I know God is faithful in all seasons. Time may be a thief, but the seasons of life are beautiful each in their own way.
