Haven: 5 Minute Friday

A haven is a not just a place. Sometimes it can be a state of mind. Mine is shaken this Friday morning. My baby girl, my oldest of our five kids, is graduating on Saturday.
I don't even want to get next to this, but I'm pretending it's great. Ok fine. It's great, but then my face leaks. She made it. WE made it. So many times I thought we wouldn't. Those two steps back to every one step forward can be gruesome at times.
But I see this wide open space at the end of this tunnel. It's as if this last year I have been inhaling only, waiting for that space that is off in the distance so I can enjoy that sweet exhale. That minute when I look around and think, "That's it. We made it. We are safe and snug in this haven."
 And then I open my social media feeds. Friend upon friend asking for prayer. Stories that follow the lines of this is my nephew graduating yesterday. We just got word he died in a car crash.
Stories that read our son was at an end of the year soccer team party at his coach's house. It happened too fast that his friend dove into the shallow end. His neck is broken. We think he may be paralyzed.
What are these stories? Where is their haven? We've reached the end, the sweet spot. This isn't supposed to be happening. We have scholarships and plans for a college road trip. We have family photos planned. We have... what?
 This sort of haven hurts, but you know what I know? I know that God is still right here. We are each under his wing. In the haven of all haven's and even when these stories rip our hearts out and threaten our understanding of who God truly is, we can stand on the truth that Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and he will be forever.
STOP.
There's this thing we do on Fridays where we write for 5 minutes on a certain topic. This was mine. Today's word is haven.

~Nonsense

Artwork by my graduate.