Watch for Milestones

Our lives are filled with milestones—moments that mark a significant change in our lives or the lives of the ones we love. Some milestones are easier to spot. You may not know the last time you played hide-and-seek with your kids or the last time you carried them to bed. Those are the hidden milestones. I’m grateful not all milestones slide by unnoticed.

This fall, I’m watching one daughter navigate what it’s like to have a senior in high school. Being a senior means a lot of lasts. My daughter took a photo of his last first day of school. He just went to his last Homecoming. Milestones.

My other daughter just sent her oldest son to his first day of school. Another milestone.

As a grandparent, I am one step removed from these milestones. That means a couple of things. I can put them in some perspective. I can laugh with my daughter who is tearing up because her oldest is now going to preschool three days a week. I can tell her it’s a good thing and that there are bigger milestones coming, and she breezed past them without looking back. I can also take the time to remember what it was like to watch those moments and treasure them one more time.

In the Gospel of Luke, after the angels showed up at the manger, it says that Mary “treasured all these things in her heart, pondering them.”

One of the things I want to do more now that I’m a grandparent is ponder. I have time. I hope you do, too.

Watching my children and grandchildren move through milestones is something to treasure and ponder. Don’t miss the opportunity.

Pastor Joe