My heart can't graduate...

We leave in a few hours to head to Athens for Katie's first college graduation ceremony. She has her convocation from the College of Education today. She has flourished at the University of Georgia. Graduating Magna Cum-Laude with a degree in middle grades education. So very proud of her.


I found pictures this morning of my college graduation. I was already married when I actually "walked" in the ceremony. Danny and I had driven to Dahlonega that morning and met our parents. I put on my cap and gown and received my diploma. Then I went home with my husband. I remember how weird it felt when I left to go "home". Waving to my mom and dad. Going home to my house.


My heart could not quite wrap around those emotions. It still is struggling. How do you stop one life and start another? You blink and life changes. Again. I am not sure that our hearts ever catch up to all the emotions. I read one of my first blogs from last August this morning. I am actually living the reality of all the emotions I wrote about. This is what my transParent's heart feels like. All those thoughts have happened. We are living them now. But my heart is struggling.


Thank goodness we are fearfully and wonderfully made by a loving Creator who knew we would struggle to catch up with life. Being a parent is the most heart stretching job. Each moment expands our capacity to love. To nurture. To grow. If we allow Him to show us the way, then each success and each failure is used to bring good. No matter how bad the bad is. No matter how wonderful the good is. His fingers of love weave together the good and the bad to form a beautiful picture of life. His masterpiece.


I am trying hard not to blink these next few weeks. Life doesn't stop for me to catch up. So my heart has to do its best to survive. But along the way, I am burying the memories. Holding to the emotions. Remembering each moment. Grasping a glimpse of a Sovereign God.


The older my children get. The more moments we live through. The more I have a clearer grasp of how the Creator God of the Universe can love and know me in the midst of it all. His heart can hold us all. Loved and cherished individually. 


My heart doesn't have to graduate to each new moment. It just keeps expanding...

He will feed His flock like a shepherd. 

He will carry the lambs in His arms, 

holding them close to His heart. 

He will gently lead the mother sheep with their young. 

Isaiah 40:11 NLT