Too Quickly...

I wrote the following last May, intending to finish it and post it, but I have just "found" it in my documents on my computer. It is even more appropriate now than it was then, with my oldest daughter getting her career as a lawyer underway and my youngest daughter preparing to graduate from high school. Where do the years go? How thankful I am that, as Glen always says, "Its early in eternity"...

Today at the bookstore, I looked up to see a little girl wearing a pink dress, walking down the aisle toward the cashier, carrying some “treasure” she had found. Her face was full of enthusiasm and youthful joy with her prize. Only a few feet away stood my adult daughter, looking thoughtfully at a book, having just graduated from law school the previous evening. I glanced from the little girl, to the adult woman and thought to myself that the journey had been way too short, it all happened so very fast.

When life is spread out before us, it is like the sliver of a road on the horizon,sometimes seeming like it will never end, but then all of a sudden, the twists and turns are upon us before we know it.

As we rode through the University campus, I remembered our previous visits, even the very first day we brought our daughter here for college. What seemed like it should feel like ages ago seemed like just yesterday, and it seemed like just a few months since her high school graduation, just a few years since she started first grade. The days, the months, the years have passed so quickly and we are here so much faster than I thought we would be.

If I could go back to myself years ago when my oldest daughter was a dark-haired little toddler, who loved to play quietly with her baby brother nearby, I would try to tell myself how fast the years would pass – even though the days may seem long. I would tell myself to savor the moments, to try to enjoy each of their stages to the fullest, because once they are gone, that child is gone forever and the older child is in its place. I would tell myself to not try to rush through any time in my children’s lives – time itself will rush things enough. I would tell myself to pray more...to pray for the things my children would have to face in the years to come; things I could anticipate and things I could never guess would cross their paths. I would tell myself to pray more for their father and for myself as well, that we we know how the Lord would want us to lead them and teach them and help them to know the truths the Lord has in His word. I would tell myself to be encouraged, that the Lord never stops working in their lives, and the He is always faithful, even when we don't make the choices of faith that we should.

I think the last thing that I would tell myself is that when I see my children grow into adulthood and I am tempted to mourn the loss of those sweet, tender little children, I would tell myself what great, wonderful adults they would become and what incredible friends I would have from those adults. I would encourage myself to just wait...that as wonderful as the days are when my babies are small, there are great, wonderful days ahead!