Suddenly An Empty Nest!

The other day I was doing some trimming of the bushes in our front yard.  I had in mind I would have to skip one of the bushes that I knew held a robin’s nest and in it three baby birds. I had seen them in the nest just the evening before and didn’t want to frighten them.   Out of curiosity, however, I peaked in to check on the little birds, which I knew had been rapidly growing. To my surprise, they were all gone.  After just a few weeks, the nest was empty!  It had happened so quickly, and to me so suddenly!  (Well, I could now trim the bush!)   

The empty nest

Today Kim and I are celebrating our 33^rd wedding anniversary.  Part of the joy of our marriage and home has been raising our kids.  But, over the past few years, Kim and I have begun to experience the “empty nest syndrome” within our own lives as our children began to first go off to college, have since graduated college and begun to set out on their own life journeys.  One by one they have begun to leave the nest we call home. In fact, this coming week our second child/son, Nathaniel, who has been home with us for the past couple of years, will be leaving us, most likely for good. He will be moving to the Washington D.C. area to begin his doctoral studies.  With his moving we know once and for all, our nest will be empty.  

Although Kim and I have known all along that one day we would see our children grow and venture out on their own (and it’s what we know is best for them), it all seemed to happen so quickly and so suddenly.  The years have gone by faster than we ever imagined they would.  It seems like it was just yesterday that we were chasing three little ones around the house, putting them to bed, or packing them into the minivan to go on vacation.  At times it could all seem so chaotic as we worked to take care of three kids all born within four years!  Yet, here we are now, facing an empty nest. 

The Psalmist wrote, “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.”  (Psalm 127:3-4 – NIV)  I’m reminded that the children we raise are not meant to stay in the nest. They are arrows that are meant to soar into the future that God has planned for them. It is our job as parents, grandparents, and as a church community, to point them in the right direction, empower them to live the lives God has called them to live, and then release them into the future he has for them.

I know it can feel as if it all happens so quickly and so suddenly, but we know it is the way God has planned it. And, we know it is what is best for them.  So, I want to encourage us today as parents, grandparents, and a church community to not be afraid of the “empty nest,” nor to take for granted the time we have to invest into the children who have been entrusted into our care.  After all, our times and theirs are in God’s hands! (Psalm 31:15)

Have a great day!

Pastor Tim Harris