a Peace in my heart...

My oldest daughter came home from college last night. She finished her last exam and her last classroom class for her college career. Next semester she will be student teaching each day and then she graduates. She came in late last night and I had already gone upstairs. I heard her come in the kitchen and talk to her daddy. I drifted off to sleep knowing that she was home and safe.


This morning she is tucked in her bed enjoying a morning of no stress, no tests, no schedule and no worries. Her wedding dress is hanging on a hook beside the window in her room. It is waiting to be fitted and made to look perfect for her special day. There are some boxes on the floor waiting for her to pack away some of her childhood things that she wants to take with her to her new home. As I looked at that scene this morning, my heart was overwhelmed with emotion.


This is the last Christmas that our home will look like this. She will not be in that bed next year on Christmas morning. She will be waking up with her husband. She will be waking up to a new world of her own traditions and her own memories. And my home will never be the same.


As I reflected on that thought this morning, I read something in one of my devotions that said to keep your focus on the things unseen even as the visible world parades before your eyes. My heart knows that she has made the right choice in a husband. My heart knows that she will have a wonderful and full life because she knows the One that will sustain her. My heart knows that this time next year we will be celebrating with her on her first Christmas as a married woman. My heart knows all of things but my eyes are seeing the now.


That is how Peace works. As I spend time with her these next few weeks, I have prayed that the Lord will help me to bury the memories and the sights and the sounds and the smells deep in my heart. There is Peace there. In my heart. There is a place that rests calmly and securely in the fact that He holds her future.


 I could so easily get entangled in the emotions and the thoughts of this being our last Christmas morning as a family of five or I could let myself be so busy that I don't even think about it. But this morning I have chosen to let Peace rule that area of my heart. The part that holds the memories of her sweet smile and her love for this holiday. The part that remembers how excited she still gets on Christmas morning. The part that knows that next year she will make it so special for her husband and the part that knows that one day she will make wonderful memories with her own sweet babies.


So today I begin this last season with my sweet girl. Yes, she will be here next year and we will all celebrate together and things will be wonderful. But they just won't be quite the same. The Peace that holds my heart will remind me of these days and I want to be fully engaged to make them special.


Pray for my heart to stay focused on the unseen Hope that I so believe and trust. And pray that as I watch the visible world of the season parade before my eyes, I will hold the memories tight and walk forward in the knowledge that He has a plan for all of us. A plan for our Hope and for our future.


May that same Peace be in your hearts this season and may you keep your eyes on the One that is the reason that we celebrate.  Enjoy each day and hold the memories tightly in your heart.

The children were nestled all snug in their beds

while visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads...