Friday, February 1, 2013

Holding hands

I have an eleven-year-old son. Sometimes I look at him while he sleeps and he looks just like he did when he was four days old. I am aware of the passing of days and have tried to enjoy as much of his childhood as possible. Soon he will be a teenager and, well, I don't know how many more times I can just sit and watch him sleep.

My son is an only child. I am very proud of the person that he is. He is funny, intelligent, considerate, helpful, independent, happy, handsome, tender, well-mannered, good-spirited and soulful. I can trust him and depend on him. And though I have much more to teach him, I know I have to start letting go of his hand.

We can hold our loved ones' hands up to a point and then we must let go. The difficulty we have in doing this is peculiarly personal in each relationship, even if there is a universality of feeling that most parents share when their children grow up and let go of our hands.

We love our children best when we prepare ourselves for the time we no longer walk hand-in-hand...and when we prepare them as well. When we do this, we allow them to grow, seek and find for themselves. This includes their spiritual paths. There are places we can't go with them on their journey to find God. Just as there are places we must go to alone.

Today is a good day to prepare for the moment we must let go of the hand of someone we love...we will be there when they return.




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