Dead Heading Roses

I love roses. All kinds of flowers really but especially roses. They come in all colors and shapes and sizes. With different thorns and patterns as well. 

Yesterday I was dead heading the roses at our house and also trying to process an emotional day of final things. It's a year of change and I knew there would be many lasts as my kids graduate and move forward and yesterday marked the last pass and review and awards ceremony. The last of eight years of memories watching one or both of my kids in a uniform. It made me a lot sad and afraid. 

Hanging on to the yesterdays and the todays is so much easier than anticipating the tomorrows. The unknowns are frightening. Getting up at four in the morning and riding a bus full of anxious and excited AFJROTC teenagers was fun and I learned a lot about my kids and how they grew in their courage and friendships. These groups were like family and it's hard to imagine no more of those times. 

But as I was snipping the full bloomed and dead rosebuds off our bushes I was reminded of something. In order for the new buds to have life and food to grow, the dead and grown flowers have to be removed. Just like we have to let go of the old in order to embrace the new. Just like God has to chip off the ugly parts of our nature in order to paint and fill us with the beauty of His Spirit. Nothing that is alive and growing and healthy can remain the same. 

My kids and I are on the brink of new adventures. My daughter as she tackles the big girl world of jobs and bills and a second degree. My son as he heads to college to find what he loves and what God has planned. And me as I leave the comfort of the known to marry an amazing man in a community and job that are as of now very unknown. In order to be more like Christ we have to throw off the old and reach for the new. 

It's frightening and exciting and I know that with God all things are possible and whatever plan He has is far better than any I have. So I'm sure there are more tears to shed but they are mixed with great joy for tomorrow. I'm just trusting in the one who knows because He sees tomorrow already. 

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,” Hebrews 12:1 NIV