Bittersweet

My daughter graduates from college in less than one month. I am excited and satisfied. It has been a challenge for her and her fortitude greatly pleases me. A major part of being a parent is encouraging and nurturing your child, increasingly giving more freedom, so that one day she can successfully be on her own. A moment of great accomplishment will be celebrated next month. It is, however, bittersweet. Upon graduation she will leave Illinois to continue her life in Washington. She has always been Daddy's little girl and in some way she always will be. Now is the time for her to be even more her own big girl. I am excited for, and proud of, her, yet sad that a constant in my life will geographically be so far away.

Today's Our Daily Bread talks of when the people of Judah returned to Jerusalem from captivity and began the rebuilding of Solomon's temple. The people sang songs of praise, yet those who had seen the temple before its destruction also wept. On my personal scale I can now understand how such contradictory emotions could emanate simultaneously. If someone were to look at my heart how it would be as in Ezra 3:13(b), since they would not be able to distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping.