LETTING GO

Dear Father in heaven,
My youngest girl, Cora, is on a plane right now,
Flying halfway around the world
To serve You for the next three months.
Lord, I am missing her as she goes,
And I don’t know if she is missing me the same,
But in case she is having a hard time falling asleep on the flight,
Could You put her to bed for me?
You will be her only Father for the next ninety days,
And I know she’s not five years old anymore,
But if You don’t mind, I need to pass our old routine off to You, for my sake.
After you pray with her, it goes like this:

Good night, Cora.
Sleep tight.
Don’t let the bed bugs bite.
And if they do,
Take a shoe,
And beat em till they’re black and blue.
I love you.
Here’s a kiss.
Eskimo kiss. (giggle)
Butterfly kisses. (giggle)
Mickey Mouse kiss. (giggle)
Fish kiss. (giggle)
Giraffe kiss. (giggle)
Elephant kiss. (giggle)
I be wuvin you, Coawa Bee.
See you in the morning.
Yes, I’ll leave the door open a crack. How’s that?
Good night.
I love you.

Is what I’m feeling tonight what it felt like for You
To give up Your Son
For the sake of risk
(such is love)?
It must have been wonderfully terrible.
Beautifully painful.
Painfully beautiful and bittersweet.

Of course, You had no regrets of
Conversations You had passed up
Due to distractions or neglect.
But You did forsake Your Son, didn’t You?
I guess Jesus was not the only One who wept
During the years of His sojourn on earth.

So wrap Cora in Your arms of love tonight,
And squeeze her extra tight for me,
Since my arms are so much shorter than Yours.

Good night, Daddy.
Good night, Cora.