The Bow and the Arrow

Nothing in the world reminds me of God’s love for me, than the events in the lives of my own children. This past Saturday night my middle son, Devin, married his long time girl friend (since eighth grade) and started his new life apart from his mother and I. As a father, it is a bittersweet moment. I am happy as he moves into this new place; yet somewhat sad that from this point forward he will “leave his mother and father and cleave to his wife.” It is as God designed it. And if I my wife and I have done our job well, while we will continue to be part of his life, his primary focus will be on his new wife and someday soon, perhaps, a family. As long as we are alive, we will be there for him. But his focus must now shift to his new family. It is the way that God intended. It still doesn’t make it easy for a parent to let go.

One of my favorite writers is the mystic poet Kahil Gibran who wrote in the early 1900’s. He penned the following regarding children:

You are the bows from which your children


as living arrows are sent forth.


The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, 


and He bends you with His might

that His arrows may go swift and far.


Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;

For even as He loves the arrow that flies, 


so He loves also the bow that is stable.

The arrow has been launched. Hopefully it will go swift and far. Hopefully as parents we have allowed the Master Archer to use us as the bow to launch him onto the infinite path of the purposes of God for his life. As Mr. Gibran so creatively states, God loves both the parents who with tenderness provide the stability of the bow, and also the child who flies from the bow toward the horizon of limitless potential. Congrats Devin and Kendell….fly far!