I said goodbye to him tonight, a toddler with golden curls and clear blue eyes who wrapped himself around my heart these past ten months.
I've watched him grow from lisping baby to little-boyhood, too many changes for me to count in this year of growing, growing, growing. We watched in wonder as he prayed all by himself before lunch last week: “Dear Jesus, thank You for this day. Help us to be kind to our friends. Amen.”
He turns two next week and almost his whole life is waiting. I hug him tight, one last time, knowing I might never see him again. I watch him walk out the door with his dad and another piece of my heart goes, too.
I slowly finger the good-bye card his mom helped him to make, and the ache in my heart swells and threatens to choke. “Thank You, Jesus, for this precious intersection of time in our two lives. What a blessing his little life has been in mine. Jesus, he is so young, so innocent, and still so much of what You created him to be. I have absolutely no control over his future: the friends he will make, the risks he will take, or the paths he will choose. What is fed in school to his brilliant young mind. Most importantly, the picture he will be given of You. Jesus, please protect him. Please let him grow to be who You created him to be.”
