Journal Week 33: The Last First Day of School is Hard on the Heart

My university ACU is starting the year off with 40 days of prayer. As a part of this season, I was asked to select a text, share a devotional thought, and offer a prayer. The topic of my day was praying for parents sending their children off to college, specifically how hard and scary that can be.

Here was my reflection:

Today we pray for parents as they watch their students become independent adults that they may let go and entrust their children to God.

“Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: ‘This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.’ ” – Luke 2:34-35

Devotional Thought
When the infant Jesus is presented at the temple, Simeon has a specific prophetic word for Mary: “A sword will pierce your own soul too.” Being Jesus’s mother will bring fear, confusion and suffering into Mary’s life.

Every parent can identify with Mary. There is great joy in becoming a parent, but having children makes us vulnerable to heartache. The successes and victories of our children become our successes and victories. But their pain and sorrow also becomes our pain and sorrow. When our children hurt, a sword pierces our heart as well.

The burden of this vulnerability can overwhelm us with fear, especially during times of letting go when our children step away from the protective, caring space of home. Wildcat Week is a joyous time, but it’s also a time of great sadness and anxiety for the parents of our ACU students. Love has a cost, and it’s often paid with tears and sleepless nights.

Today’s Prayer
Our Father in Heaven, a sword also pierced your heart when you gave your Son to the world in love. We, however, are but dust. Our fears as parents can overwhelm us with worry. And the sorrows of our children can cripple us with grief. So today we pray for the parents of our students as they let go of their children during this season of life. We ask that you replace any fear and anxiety they may have with peace, courage, comfort, trust and joy. Give our ACU parents – give all of us – the power and courage to fearlessly carry the burden of love. Amen.

This reflection settled over me this week. Our youngest son Aidan's first day of school was this week. It's Aidan's senior year in High School. So this was Aidan's last first day of school.

As you can imagine, it's an emotional time for Jana and I. We remember all the feelings from Brenden's senior year, and we're about to do it again.

Love is a mystery, how if you love someone your heart becomes exposed to sadness and worry. And there's really no escaping it. Nor would you want to. Hurt goes with love. The only alternative is detachment and numbness. That might be safe, but it's not a human way to live.

This is, by the way, one of the reasons I'm a Christian, how the cross stands at the center of our faith.

The cross is an outpouring of love, and the cross is also very, very sad.

And to me, that is the truest thing in the entire world.