Living Arrows Sent Forth

Two of my ducklings left the nest today.  My oldest daughter for her 2nd mission trip, my 2nd daughter for her 1st mission trip.  I am proud of them for choosing to use part of their summer vacation in service to others and I am excited for them to learn and grow in the Spirit; discovering who they are as one of God's Beloved.  I am poignant because I know that each trip out from the nest is further and longer and one day my nest will be empty and quiet and this Mama will look around and wonder, "How did my babies grow?"  I hope and pray the answer that comes back to me is, "They grew in God and now they are off to serve His purpose."

Thanks be to God and traveling mercies on this mission trip.  Loving God embrace the missioners with a heart of service, embrace their partner families with an overwhelming sense of God in their midst, together may they share in the transformative work of the Spirit.

"And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, "Speak to us of Children."

And he said: Your children are not your children.

They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself. They come through you but not from you, And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts. For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls, For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you. For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth. The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness; For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable." 

--Kahlil Gibran