Samantha was sad

Samantha was sad after school today. Why? Because they set the butterflies free. For the past couple weeks, they've watched them grow as caterpillars, build cocoons, and turn into beautiful butterflies.

I had a little talk with Samantha about how life is always changing. The butterflies teach us this. Change can be hard. The butterflies were probably happy to be set free, or at least oblivious, but the children they left behind had to say good-bye. There was a simple attachment that had to be broken.













And such is life. We make attachments and then have to let them go. Things change. Change has its good and bad sides. My firstborn will soon be a high school graduate. A very very good thing in light of all he's been through. But also a hard thing. To say good-bye in a more formal sense to childhood even though he's technically and maturity-wise an adult already. There's that push/pull, push/pull dynamic to everything in life.

Attachment is a good thing. I know this in more ways than one as an adoptive mom. We all need it to survive. But attachment and change are a recipe for pain. Is that where I should end? Of course not. Something is permanent. Our hearts are made to long for it. God, His kingdom, His people, and eternity. So as someone said, (and because I'm not as educated as I should be I don't know who), "the only thing that stays the same is change itself", is only true for the temporal.