Holding on and letting go

A couple of Sundays ago during the children's time during worship, a grandfather brought a little boy to the front to participate. The little boy approached with his trusted grandfather, and he would stay and listen, but he would not let go of his grandfather's finger.  He would be brave, but he needed that connection. It was trust and love, personified. Beautiful.

This is how we start with our children.  We hold their hands. I remember always holding the hands of my boys as we crossed the streets together. I remember not letting go of the buggy in the grocery store if they were in it - just to keep them safe. I remember walking on the beach, and making sure they were in front of us, so that we could see them. When they are young, we are their protection. As parents, we are what protects them from harm, if we can. We try.

As they grow, we let go. We have raised them to become adults, and being an adult means making mistakes, being brave, being independent. It is hard, but it is what we have raised them to do.

I'm so proud of our sons, and the men they have become and are becoming. I remember holding their hands, and I am (I pray) brave enough to trust in what we have taught them, and to let go.

I am blessed that God will never let go of them.

Perfection

I was reading a blog post by a knitter yesterday.  Stephanie says:

Perfecting things doesn't perfect people. Even if you have the perfect napkin rings, a really beautiful gift, eighty-seven candles and a fabulous side dish. Give up now. I promise it doesn't change squat about people's happiness or ability to get along.

Sometimes, at Christmas, we try very hard to get everything done.  We work to buy the perfect gift, wrap it "just so," put up all the great decorations, send out personalized Christmas cards -- we try to do it all.

For instance, when my oldest son was a toddler, we worked hard to prepare a great Christmas.  He opened the first gift, loved it, and started to play with it.  It was all he needed, and yet there were other gifts to open, other things to be done.  "Hey, Grant, stop having fun and come over here and open gifts!" 

There are some things I do at Christmas because I really enjoy doing them.  I love to play with the table decorations for dinner.  I find joy in it, and my family usually notices that it looks nice.  It adds to our dinner. 

I don't think they notice how I wrap gifts.  I don't always (ever, usually) have the time to wrap the gifts perfectly, but I've decided it doesn't matter.  I let it go.

Why struggle with how the nativity sets are arranged when my younger son gets great pleasure in arranging them?  I give him that job.

What I can do to "prepare" for the holiday rarely changes (if ever) my family, but I can let my family change the way we "prepare" for the holiday.  It works better that way. 

Maybe one of the ways to keep Christ in Christmas is to love your loved ones, as they are.  Enjoy them.  Let them enjoy you.