I say it often. I believe it. I actually just said these words this week in a conversation. What words? Proverbs 22:6, “Train children in the way they should go; when they grow old, they won’t depart from it.”
Many of my friends have kids that they have sent off to college within the past few years until just last month. Tim and I will be in that situation soon since Hunter is a junior this year in high school. Yikes! In recent conversations about sending children off to college, it made us recount those days when we were off to college ourselves.
Tim remembers both his parents working at the family’s old paint store. They all had packed up all Tim’s necessities in his little 240z. The day he left, his dad was at work. The two of them had said their good-byes the night before, but his dad did pop his head in Tim’s bedroom before leaving for work and told him bye and he loved him. Tim’s mother was still at home when it was time for him to depart. He remembers the hugs and tears with his mom, then getting in his car, and driving away for his college years at The University of Florida.
For me, I recall a different experience. It was a time in my life when my parents were just divorced after 27 years of marriage. I had received my AA degree from Hillsborough Community College, and packed my stuff up and head to Orlando where my cousin, April, and I lived together as we attended The University of Central Florida. I don’t recount the tears and long farewells I hear my friends talking about today. I even called my mom on the phone this morning to see what I may be missing out on when I try to remember the move away from home. We laughed as we both felt the same way. She remembers moving us to our apartment, helping unpack a few things, and we girls telling her “We’ll be fine. The boys will take care of us.” Hahaha. I cracked up when she told me that. “The boys” she was talking about were the football players. April and I lived in the same apartment complex as the team. The funny thing is, even though we must have said that they would take care of us, these boys were complete strangers. College boy, might I add. That was a time in my family’s life that we must have blocked out some life experiences. I believe God is protecting us from remembrances of so much pain, and letting us relish in the days we now have of glory.
Our parents did train us well with the foundations of God. I feel the same about how Tim and I have raised our children.
When the time comes, and it will be here before we know it, for Hunter to depart, I’m sure there will be tears, but I have a God-confidence that he will be fine, and we will too. We’ve always nurtured our three children to be godly and independent. So, when they do each depart our little nest to fly out to the big world on their own, I know that they will succeed. Mistakes will be made, and learned from. Successes will be acquired, and confidence gained. God will be with them the entire time, because they have Christ in their heart. Praise God!
I just hope that they will always know that we are just a phone call, a text, or a Skype away, and that their home-home is always here ready to welcome them and all their college buddies. Yikes, I just got a lump in my throat rereading this and thinking about the time to come.
Blessings to all, and I just said a prayer for all the college kids and those parents who have new-college kids.
Have a beautiful weekend!
September 8, “Walking in the Word”
