A Time

Well, they were right. All of those middle-aged ladies who gazed at my newborn babies, smiling knowingly, and saying with one eyebrow gently raised, “Enjoy them, dear. They grow up fast.”

I remember returning a smile, but not a knowing one. Just a friendly “thanks for caring” kind of smile. After all, how could I know what they knew? How could I know that eighteen years truly would fly by like a short weekend? Still, I did sense that they were right, and I dreaded the time when I would be in their place, caressing the silky cheeks of some younger woman’s babies and saying the words that had been spoken to me.

Well, that time has come. Yes, those ladies were absolutely right. And, yes, I am now passing on that strange but true wisdom of time to young mothers. At least, that’s what I hear myself saying.

Still, in the echo of my own voice, I doubt my own words. How can it be true? How can our daughter be getting married in four months when I can still see her seated on our piano bench with her legs swinging freely a foot above the floor? How can she be setting up her own library when I can still see her sprawled across our couch reading the Pickwick Papers? How can our son be leaving for college when I’m sure I just saw him shooting hoops into a homemade indoor rim? How can I be watching him pack his shaving lotion when I can still smell baby lotion on his skin?

King Solomon said, “To everything there is a season and a time for every purpose under heaven.” Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV This season feels a bit like winter right now, but I know that Solomon was right. Change isn’t easy, but I’m holding on to the Master of the seasons who has all of time secure in His hands.

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