Our son Brad plans to attend the University of Arkansas this Fall. He will major in Business or Political Science. This means that, starting in the Fall, we will have a half empty nest. I count this as a mixed blessing. I am excited about what the boys will become as they transform into adults. I enjoy this stage and I am trying to appreciate and celebrate each moment as it comes along. Of course it is sometimes easier said than done!

I realized at Christmas that this was likely to be Brad’s last Christmas living at home. I do hope he will want to come home for future Christmas celebrations. I have been praying a lot lately for the boys to become the people that God intends them to be and for them to have hearts to worship and serve Him always. I have been trying to trust God to take care of them. If I think clearly, I realize that God has always taken care of them and always will. Still, I foolishly lapse into thinking that I must remind Him. I am reminded of the following poem that I found many years ago:

Broken Dreams

As children bring their broken toys
With tears for us to mend.
I brought my broken dreams to God
Because He was my friend.

But then instead of leaving Him
In peace to work alone,
I hung around and tried to help
With ways that were my own.

At last I snatched them back and cried,
“How can You be so slow?”
“My child,” He said,
“What could I do?
You never did let go.”

Author Unknown