Our end-of-season party was sprinkled with a dash of sorrow folded into a cup of joy. Another swim season ended, and two kids’ birthdays fell on the same day in the final weeks. I picked up donuts, while the other mom made chocolate-chip banana muffins.
One of their gang, a long-time friend, was moving out of the area and would soon leave forever.
Kids raced out of swimming to devour donuts and muffins. Rule of relativity for boys who've just swum a mile: the boy who can take 15 minutes to eat 5 green beans is the same boy who can devour 15 muffins and donuts at the speed of light.
As one boy finished his fifth treat, his sister admonished him, “I told you to only eat one!” A toddler reached to grab a muffin, eat a couple of bites, and then give the rest to anyone who walked by her. Then she yanked a donut so she could eat a couple of bites and give the rest to someone else.
Kids laughed in a final farewell. The following season would include one less prankster, partner in crime, and voice to shout in the din of fun and games.
No turning back.
Flash a few weeks later. It's moving day for a dear friend, and our children play together on the last day, for the final time, before they leave. Lunch is delivery pizza, and the kids grab pizza slices, dodge moving boxes, and race outside to try — just one more time — to catch a fish in a nearby pond. How many worms can a fishing hook hold?
We live in a world where friends become surrogate cousins, and our kids share their firsts with friends more than family: first teeth lost, first time riding bikes, first time serving at Church, first roller coaster rides, first canoe trips, first piano recitals, first crushes, first broken bones, and more. A few years is a lifetime for children. Now another whole family left.
It wouldn't be the same again. In eleven days, six of my children's closest friends moved.
No turning back.
We still have email, telephone, and visits.
When a gardener plants bulbs such as daffodils, after a few years they need to be divided and spread. Then they grow and add beauty in new places.
God does the same with us. He sometimes divides us from our closest friends.
Wherever we are planted, we will one day be together again. Wherever we are, God has planted us, and Christ can use us to touch others. He will send us the strength we need, especially when we're scared, uncertain, and lonely.
The muffin/donut party of last month and the pizza party of yesterday are not endings. They celebrate passing of seasons. One day, we will be together with those we love, who share our love for Jesus Christ.
Changing circumstances spur us to grow in ways never expected.
The losses we experience now prepare us to follow Jesus Christ more closely.
As I work in my own garden this summer and ponder new beginnings, I hear the voice of my own surrogate grandmother, as we worked together in her kitchen 30+ years ago.
She sang,
I have decided to follow Jesus — no turning back, no turning back.
Though I may wonder, I still will follow — no turning back, no turning back.
Though none go with me, still will I follow — no turning back, no turning back.
The world behind me, the cross before me — no turning back, no turning back.
Will you decide now to follow Jesus — no turning back, no turning back.
Yes. We will follow.
No turning back.
Mary Biever is a homeschooling mother of two who publishes encouragement articles and runs Encouragement Workshops For Today's Families.
This article was adapted from one of her columns.
