This month our Compassion daughter graduated from the Compassion program. Last Friday I wrote our last letter to her. I knew she would be graduating soon … and I was totally expecting this day to come. But I just didn’t realize it would be so hard to let go.
It is really hard to let go of a season of your life.
Last Sunday hubby and I were resting for moment on the back deck, after cleaning up leaves, when my attention was caught by a flock of birds high in the Big Leaf Maple. They had stopped for a snack of seeds on their journey south. After a few moments, they all flew away to continue their journey.
The Big Leaf Maple not only produced leaves which will nourish the soil, but it also produced an abundance of seeds which will nourish the wildlife throughout the upcoming winter months … birds, chipmunks, and squirrels.
Hundreds upon hundreds of maple seeds have been whirling and helicoptering down to the ground … blown by the wind to land in far-flung places! Seeds are scattered throughout the forest, they now cover the lawn, they are in every corner of the flowerbeds, they are scattered all over the front porch steps, and all across the driveway.
This is what our lives are like. Just as the purpose of the Big Leaf Maple is to produce leaves and seeds, so also the purpose of our lives is to produce and scatter seeds for God’s Kingdom. Seeds of love … whirling on the wind of life to land in far-flung corners of people’s lives. Seeds of peace … floating down to land on the pathway of life. Seeds of joy … covering the ordinary everyday lawn of life. Seeds of hope … landing in the flowerbeds of people’s hearts.
The seeds let go from the tree … and there’s no telling where the wind will carry them.
The seeds whirl on the breeze … and there’s no telling what impact they will have.
It is really hard to let go. To know that we will never hear from our Compassion daughter ever again. But God knows her. God is with her. God will take care of her. And God can use the seeds from our love to grow beauty in the soil of her life.
It takes faith. And trust.
You have to trust God to take the seeds from your life … and use them for His Kingdom.
