Empty Nesters

My hubby and I are at our front porch, enjoying the company of my friend Sue who came to visit with their son Andrew and hubby Milt. Sue and I have been friends for over 25 years when we both started working in the circuit board industry of the 80's. We went through our 20's together, dating, meeting our husbands, having our first baby around the same time, moving different directions, literally all over the map, but always keeping in touch.



Before the Internet era, we kept in touch with each other by phone, even when the long distance carriers were pricey back then. There is a certain bond that keeps us together even as we grow in our calling in life, and even when I see Sue for what she is today, a successful realtor, I can't remove from my mind images of her being silly as a 20 something could be silly. I am sure it is the same for her when she thinks of me in some of my worse moments.

Sue is facing the "empty nest"; something that we would talk about as young moms, a far away and almost impossible reality waiting to happen. Well, the time has come for Sue and Milt to bring their only son to San Jose State University from San Diego, and go back home without him :( Time is a priceless commodity, and the more I think about it, the less I understand it. So, I follow my own advise and try not to think too much.

What makes it more relevant is the fact that I see myself facing the same situation in not so long a time. One day I will wake up and realize that my children are gone to begin their own lives. We are definitely in the process right now, where we have become the influencers and not the controllers anymore in their lives. As I watch them grow, I feel the pride that any parent would feel when I see good choices being made, and the sadness of not so good ones. Nevertheless, when I think of my children I am filled with a love that only a mother can understand, and "I am very fond of them" as God, Papa, would speak of His creation in "The Shack."

To Sue and all my other friends who are becoming "Empty Nesters": "I emphatize with you."

Humility and Lip Rings.

Today I took my son to have his wisdom teeth removed, and as I was thinking about that I prayed that his wisdom would increase as his teeth were gone. Two days ago he got a lip ring, and as I contemplated its meaning I was pretty pleased with myself. My son admitted that I am a pretty cool mom compared to some uptight moms he knows, and that made his lip ring worth it. Or may be he just manipulated my feelings.

Either way, I want their hearts, not the appearance of godliness. Isn't that what God wants? Of course, is it what we give Him? Not always. I am reading "Blue Like Jazz" by Donald Miller and although I don't agree with a lot of his stuff, I really enjoyed his chapter "Confession." In it, he and a very small group of Christian friends who attended this ungodly university decided to open a Confession booth in the middle of campus as they were having a once a year festival/orgie/drug and drunkenness party. This Christian group decided, though, that they would confess their own sins to whoever came in the booth, and ask for their forgiveness for having misrepresented Jesus, for the televangelists, for not taking care of the poor and the needy, for the problems that their own selfishness and pride had caused. The students, mostly unsaved, were touched by this act of true humility, and there were lots of Godly fruit multiplying throughout campus due to these guys' obedience.

Now, next time I see a guy with some kind of piercing or tattoo I will tell myself: "Careful what you think, it could be you son!" And he may be reaching a section of the world I can't.