Letting Your Fledgling Go

A mama robin lands, shrilling from the roof of the shed. Across the driveway her last fledgling rests inside the gutter on the corner of the house reluctant to leave the comforts of home.

We watched her and papa serve meals and guard their young for two weeks without a break. But today it’s time to empty the nest. Mama robin knows—the only way her little one survives is if she quits delivering food—if she stops treating him like a hatchling.

So…she cries, Live!, from a distance.

Her alarm wakens my blaring excuses. I can’t let them fall, I won’t let them fail, just one more day and I’ll make a way. They won’t lose a feather, and I hear it like a whisper unlocking the cage—Loving your kids your own selfish way can clip their wings.

It feels brutal to view their hunger—like you’re not lifting a finger. But feeding is fatal after he’s outgrown the nest. We can frustrate her flight to understanding why she came to be. Hinder his need for humble dependance on Eternity.

We have sweet dreams for our kids, don’t we? But those dreams are no more reliable than the ones these old shoulders were once relieved to leave. Because the best life is not a fragile dream, it’s a rugged sacrifice. A daily dying to lying, turning from yearning, giving not taking, waiting not chasing, believing not seeing what God has next for those who love Him.

It’s not reciting mantras like, “Let go and let God.” It’s knowing God goes before you.

Letting go of what you know, holding fast to what you can’t even fathom, is fear of God in action.

“Here I am.” Said Abraham with blade in hand, believing The Lord to love his son more than mere man can. God will provide was knit in his chest, chapping his lips, holding his breath. God will provide bridles our eyes, bows our will, moves our feet. Gather the fire, carry the wood, God will provide the sacrifice. Do what He says, and you will live filled to the brim. The finest wine drawn at the perfect time.

Mortal dreams can’t hold a candle to God’s forever pleasure. That’s why when our dreams do come true, they’re still not enough. Inferior at best. If God’s grace isn’t enough, nothing ever will be.

We have to get this in time for our next generation. Let’s put the kibosh on seductive slogans like Make your dreams come true. Arming ourselves, praying like mad—Lord, make us lovers of the truth.

Abraham believed God. And so can you. God will provide what you need to survive every time it’s time to let go.

This is gonna take faith, friends. It’s not another, “I need to [fill in the blank]. But rather, “I need God.” ‘Cause isn’t that why our legs give way? Our list for livin’ Christian gets longer and longer while our trust in The Holy Spirit gets thinner and weaker. This is why God tests Abraham. “Now I know that you fear God, seeing you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.” (Gen 22:12) Could we possibly stop fighting for control, grinding to fix, taking fruit from our full-grown kids? It’s like God needs to know if Abraham’s willin’ to stretch out his neck, open wide, and let heaven fill his mouth.”I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt; open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Ps 81:10)

Do we fear God? Or are we just afraid?

Katie Westenberg, in her book, I Choose Brave, writes: “Could obedience possibly look a whole lot less like our ten-step process to overcoming fear, our tired antidotes, Band-aids, even Scripture we apply hastily, out of context, or at the neglect of what the Scripture is saying? Could it possibly look more like paying attention to where He is moving, moving toward Him with holy courage, and choosing to follow wherever He leads?”

We’re not on your way to becoming “the father of many nations” but together we are mothers and fathers of many. And The Father is interceding our case, preparing our place, and calling names. “Abraham!”

When God calls yours, be assured, God will provide.