February 6, 2020 Empty Nest Musings

C.S. Lewis spoke of a kind of love that he called “Gift-love,” the proper aim of which is “to put the recipient in a state where he no longer needs our gift.” He goes on to say, “We feed children in order that they may soon be able to feed themselves; we teach them in order that they may soon not need our teaching. Thus a heavy task is laid upon this Gift-love. It must work towards its own abdication. We must aim at making ourselves superfluous. The hour when we can say, ‘They need me no longer,’ should be our reward.”

This is so true about parenting, about mothering. What a wonderful reward it is to see your children independent and flourishing as adults! And yet, it is not unalloyed joy; there is a small measure of grief mixed in when they fly off and leave behind an empty nest.

Empty Nest
They are gone – my heart is grieved.
They are flying! My heart rejoices.

I’ll probably delete this in the morning.