Long years of labor and a payout....not an uncommon theme. Nick will graduate high school in a couple of weeks. I bent over to change his diaper and when I looked up, he was 18 years old. He's the last calf out of the stall. The rodeo is over. I don't feel old enough to have three grown children. Then I look in the mirror, and I'm not sure who that guy looking back is. He does look old enough for three grown children....sigh, It's time for the payoff. T-Bug and I have talked on and off over the years about what the payoff may eventually be. We found with Christy that it can be a big payday. Given the least guidance of the three, she paid off big. We actually had the least invested in her because we had no idea how to raise her; we were learning on the fly. We all three just kind of grew up together. Ryan is finishing up his first year of college and the jury remains out on that charge. I'm not sure my parents would have professed great blossoms of their cactus plants. The five of us yeilded a sundry of results all across the spectrum ranging from poor to average...none of us produced particularly spectacular results. Joelene, probably the best chance at spectacular bloom, was killed at age 17.
With these two boys now, the hay is in the barn. Studies taught, lessons learned, what is done, is done. Only God knows what their future holds. Mom and Dad's knowledge have been imparted. Time will tell. We pray constantly over them, but the time for influrence has gone. It is time to let go. I can only lead now by way of model rather than word. Their eyes work much better than their ears at this age. Will we have another blossom, or a couple of thorns? We've had a lot of nasty punctures over the years....maybe we'll get another bloom or two for a payoff. There is great comfort in the promises of our Lord, and T-Bug's favorite verse. "Train up a child in the way he should go; when he is old he will not depart from it". Proverbs 22:6.
One proven, two to go.
2 comments:
My bet is that the other two will be big payoffs. By the way, I like the flower.
I Love You, Daddy...
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