The Courage to Let Go
By the time you read this, Allison and I will probably be already on the plane home from moving Grace into her college dorm room.
We will have hung pictures on the wall, made a few more trips to Target, and will be done trying to figure out where everything goes. We’ll have lived through the moment I’ve been trying not to think about for months.
The hug.
The goodbye.
And us driving off from campus leaving her to live her best life as a college student.
I’ve known this day was coming since the day she was born. That’s the strange thing about parenting. From the very beginning, we know our job isn’t to keep our children forever. Our calling is to love them, guide them, encourage them, pray for them, and little by little prepare them to become the people God created them to be.
Knowing it’s coming, however, doesn’t make letting go any easier.
If I’m honest, just thinking about this day puts a knot in my stomach.
Dropping your child off at college feels a little like the first day of kindergarten…only about a hundred times harder.
Back then, I knew she’d come home that afternoon with stories to tell.
This time, home will look different.
I’m incredibly excited for Grace. She has worked hard for this opportunity, and I can’t wait to see all God has in store for her. But excitement and sadness aren’t opposites. Sometimes they walk hand in hand.
Maybe that’s because love always carries a little grief whenever life changes.
Every new beginning asks us to let go of something familiar.
Children grow up.
Parents grow older.
Friends move away.
Churches change.
Dreams evolve.
The shape of life changes, even when love remains the same.
One of the greatest acts of faith isn’t holding on tighter.
It’s trusting God enough to open our hands.
That’s true whether we’re sending a child to kindergarten, to college, into military service, into marriage, or simply into another season of life.
We’re never really in control.
We’re simply invited to trust the One who has always held them more securely than we ever could.
As I think about Grace this week, I find myself remembering the words from Joshua that have encouraged God’s people for generations:
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
Those words aren’t just for Grace.
They’re for her mom and dad, too.
The courage to let go isn’t the absence of love.
It’s one of the deepest expressions of it.
With Gratitude,
Rev. Rodney Whitfield
Senior Pastor
Aldersgate UMC