Our daughter, a first year graduate student went away to college for the first time this past August. She was very surprised to learn that the school she is attending actually provided a whole week off of school for Thanksgiving break. Her prior school only gave a few days off.
This first semester away for her, like most college students, has had its ups and downs. Downs would be dealing with very different roommates and with college issues. Ups would be being independent and self sufficient, planning, shopping and prepping meals. As a mother it has been great to see how she has come into her own with doing all those “adult” type things. Getting almost daily snapchats to see her creations or what she is doing is always comforting too.
With her being away for a good three months, it was with great anticipation that we were all excited to have her home for a whole week! In fact, I took the week off of work just to be around the house more wanting to make the most of every moment. In the weeks leading up to the break, we would talk about “bucket” list things we wanted to fill the time with but my daughter kept saying she would still have homework and practicing to do as she is a saxophone player. It ends up she had little homework to do and actually I don’t think she did any as three days before she was coming home she realized the one major project was due the Friday before Thanksgiving! She did some intense writing producing a 14 page masterpiece with some writing into the wee hours of the mornings.
It was so good to have her arrive home Saturday evening after driving straight through the four hour ride! Though she isn’t really a “huggy” person she did let me hug her to welcome her home! She quickly was ready to have some quality Dad time so they went out to eat.
Seeing your child “grow” up even more is a cool thing; where you are more adult to adult sharing. We had some quality girl time on one day where we started our day with our first ever trip to Krispy Kreme donuts about an hour from us, then visited an Aquarium that a FB friend of mine posted pictures of a few weeks earlier. It was great as it was new so we did not know about it prior; my daughter loves aquariums. Since a shopping outlet was a bit further away we explored that for our first time. No trip would be complete without a Dairy Queen visit…especially since technically TWO were in our path. (Be assured we only did one of those stops this time!) It has been a long time since my daughter had one of those blizzards and I was quite surprised when she even picked my favorite…yes, you know it…the Snickerdoodle Cookie Dough! 🙂
As with all good-byes it was hard to see her leave once again even though you know everything is going to be okay. Good-byes are just plain difficult thinking how life as we know it currently will change once again. Nothing stays the same.
As we were living this week out and especially with welcoming my daughter home I couldn’t help but think of the parallel of our relationship with God. It made me understand just a sliver of what God must feel like…..
Doesn’t God just long to welcome us home?
…For us to come into right relationship with Him accepting Him as our Lord and Savior?
And once we do, doesn’t God wait so patiently for us to engage with Him throughout our days?
…Through prayer, reading His love book, the Bible, loving others?
When we stray from the fold, leaving home to go out on our own, doesn’t His heart break?
…As our Father, He too, wants what is best for His children!
No matter what we do or where we’ve been, God’s arms are always outstretched to welcome us home.
This is so evident in the story of the prodigal son, a story I think we are all familiar with.
As I was thinking about penning these thoughts I heard these lines from a song that I couldn’t help but think fit so perfectly.
This week take a few minutes to evaluate where you are in your relationship with God. Make sure you are safely at home with Him!
But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate. –Luke 15:22-24 (CEV)
