EMBRACING

A time to embrace
and a time to shun embracing.
Ecclesiastes  3:5

 

    Transitions.  What comes to mind for you when you think of this word?  I think of childbirth where transition marks the time of dilation from eight to ten centimeters—certainly a time that is not for the faint of heart or for those humming melodious tunes.  You can easily see the word “transit” embedded within this word.  Transit means to move, and moving isn’t always easy.  Even getting from one side of Lexington to the other in a car can prove amazingly frustrating!   Or try taking the metro system in  Frankfurt, Germany.  Or how about moving off your couch to walk two miles on the treadmill? 
            
     Just what is it about transitional seasons that grip our hearts?  Is it the fear of the unknown?  Is it that we so want to hang on to
what is normal and comfortable, that the thought of a new and different life just doesn’t cut it?  I cried when my kids went from a crib to a bed.  I bawled when they learned to ride a two-wheeler coming from the ever sturdy tricycle.  And then they  lost teeth and learned to tie their shoes on their own.  They learned to fix lunch and could walk to the park unattended.  They grew to be far too big to sit on  my lap.   They began driving vehicles and taking increased responsibility for the privileges they so desired.  
            
     If you are like I am, you may want to embrace your children, to clasp them forever. Yet despite my best efforts to super glue myself to my children, a transitional season has arrived, and I am pressed hard to change and adapt, and sadly to refrain from “embracing.”  Not literally, mind you, but in the figurative and spiritual sense.   I am learning that it is in their best interest if I can learn to hold tighter to the Lord as I release them into His full presence.  
            
     During this time of transition as my fingers are loosed from my children’s shoulders, perhaps I can learn to cling to the Cross, to cling to the Rock. I must choose to surrender.  I must choose to trust.  God calls us to change and to move, and lest we get comfortable, He calls us to change and move--again and again and again.  God knows we need to cling--He created us to clasp.  Though we may feel like mere fledglings in this life’s journey, we do have a shelter in the shadow of His wings.  Then from a  distance, oh the thrill, to see our children soar on high and learn for themselves what it means to live, love, and embrace.