Dear Reader,
I know I’m supposed to be taking the month off here, but this will be short (I promise).
Megan and I are hitting the road with Millie this morning for Chattanooga and Covenant College. This is both exciting (glad to get out of Dodge) and sad (only two of us plan to return on this trip). We’ll see family going and coming and rendezvous with Chloe somewhere in South Dakota on her way out to Roanoke, but we’ve decided to leave Peaches with Maddie and Katie in Bozeman for the 12 days we’re gone. This, of course, will likely result in some form of therapy for both the dog and for me.
But I digress.
These days of children leaving the nest are hard but holy ones for our family, the emotions of which are summed up well by Douglas McKelvey in “A Liturgy for Missing Someone” in his volume, Every Moment Holy. He writes on pages 215-216:
“We willingly carry this ache. We carry it, O Father, to you.
You created our hearts for unbroken fellowship. Yet the constraints of time and place, and the stuttering rhythms of life in a fallen world dictate that all fellowships in these days will at times be broken or incomplete.
And so we find ourselves in this season, bearing the sorrow of our separation.
We acknowledge, O Lord, that it is a right and a good thing to miss deeply those whom we love but with whom we cannot be physically present. Grant us, therefore, courage to love well even in this time of absence.
Grant us courage to shrink neither from the aches nor from the joys that love brings, for each, willingly received, will accomplish the good works you have appointed them to do.
Therefore we praise you even for our sadness, knowing that the sorrows we steward in this life will in time be redeemed.
We praise you also knowing that these glad aches are a true measure of the bond you have wrought between our hearts. Now use our sorrows as tools in your hand, O Lord, shaping our hearts into a truer imitation of the affections of Christ.
Use even this sadness to carve out spaces in our souls where still greater repositories of holy affection might be held, unto the end that we might better love, in times of absence and in times of presence alike.
We now entrust all to your keeping. May our reunion be joyous, whether in this life or in the life to come. How we look forward, O Lord, to the day when all our fellowships will be restored, eternal, and unbroken.
Amen.”
As Megan wrote last July in her guest post, “Empty Nest-obia (Not Empty Nest-opia),”
“While it’s not loving to cry every time I say goodbye to my daughters, I’m finding the transition we’ve begun and are only a few short years away from completing is turning out to be the hardest one of all. While he jokes to the contrary, neither Craig nor I have ever been the parent who says, ‘So glad they’re outta here.’ I have no bone in my being that ever compels me to say that; instead, I find myself praying wordless groans that translate, ‘I wish they were here.’”
Thankfully, the girls have been gracious and patient with us, recognizing that we have needed opportunities to grieve their going even as we are supportive and excited for it. Without us nagging them, they’ve made the effort to get additional time with us and each other these past few weeks, as well as to willingly receive our extra hugs and “I love yous” (even if we had just given them an earlier round five minutes before).
Now it’s time for us to step up to the plate. Lord willing, it’s going to be a good trip (below is our route if you’re interested), and I’m looking forward to making it.
Don’t worry about Peaches and me. We’ll deal with our issues when I get back.
Or over FaceTime.
Picture of the Week
It’s been a long time since I’ve done a Picture of the Week, but this one is fun and apropos. Bozemanites Will and Kiira Bauerle sent in this photo along with a note:
“‘Upon this rock, I will wear your shirt!’ Enjoy the well-deserved month break from the newsletter. Just know we are still out there promoting it. Safe travels, Will and Kiira”
It’s nice to have fans who are friends. Thanks for the pic, Bauerles. You made my week.
We now return you to your regularly scheduled August. Thanks for reading.
Craig
PS: In case you were wondering, Chloe has been working hard to follow up on her fundraising letter and is nearly halfway there in covering her part of her two-year internship with Reformed Youth Ministries. To support her with a monthly or one-time tax-deductible gift:
You can give online at https://www.rym.org/donate:
1. Select “general: training.”
2. Include “Chloe Dunham” in the comment box.
Or you can give via check:
Make out a check to RYM (Reformed Youth Ministries) and put “Chloe Dunham” in the memo and send to:
Reformed Youth Ministries
3049-B Massey Road
Vestavia Hills, AL 35216
Thank you to those who have already given on her behalf. I am a very grateful father.
