Adjust and Trust

I went for a run on Wednesday. Kaelyn decided to go with me. She would ride her bike while I ran. There are nice pathways where we live that are designed specifically for runners and bike riders. The one I took is parallel to a pretty busy street. So Kaelyn and I started on our outing together. Knowing that she could ride faster than I run, I told her not to cross intersections without me. She agreed to wait for me to catch up and then we would cross the intersections together. We went two miles. Then we turned around to head home. By now, she’s gotten comfortable. She rode ahead of me. If she were getting further ahead than I was comfortable, I would call out her name and she would stop and wait until I caught up. The last segment of my run has a long stretch. Because there are no intersections, she just kept riding. And as she got further from me I called her name, but she didn’t stop. And then it dawned on me that the cars on the street parallel to the pathway were louder in her ears than my voice. She couldn’t hear me. Ironically, I wasn’t anxious. By this point we had traveled over 3 miles together and she had stopped at every intersection up to this point like we had agreed. While I jogged I saw her little legs pedaling up ahead I began thinking about how our children get “away” from us. At first we carry them everywhere. Then they start to walk. And the “getting away” begins. Kaelyn is still very much attached to Evelyn and I. But the older two are beginning to get “away.” They are home for the summer. But though home, they have their friends now. They have chosen friends at school that we have never met. Kaelyn was too far up ahead to hear me. And I had to trust that our little orientation (“don’t cross any intersections without me; wait for me and we’ll cross together”) was enough to motivate her stop though I was not physically close enough to remind her. Fortunately, she followed the plan like a champ. When I caught up to her she looked at me and laughed, “Daddy, I didn’t know you were so far behind me!” The writer of Proverbs says, “Direct your children onto the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it” (Proverbs 22:6, NLT). I’m learning to “adjust” and “trust.” “Adjust” to the reality that my children are getting (and will get) away from Ev and I. And “trust” the promises that God will cause the seeds of righteousness that we have attempted to plant to bloom when they do.