Since both my daughters are now living away from home, I enjoy the blessing of more time. Some new additions to my life involve a gym membership, reading more, and spending much more time with friends as a couple. I also love taking on more ministry assignments and praying about the next years of my life. I find life offers so many wonderful things to do: sporting events, church activities, outings with friends, caring for neighbors, writing more books, praying more, reading more, baking, home and garden work, concerts, and evening movies. I still love my professional life, but when children leave the home, an empty spot opens that’s both filled with sorrow but also fresh joy for new possibilities (both for your children and you).
I love journeying alongside others in the same stage of life. We can grab dinner or lunch; we can go to the football games, we can walk and laugh and hike and pray together. It’s a beautiful time for adult friendships where nobody has to run to pick up this child or make that meal or run that errand. While you grieve it at first, what comes next is a new kind of living with more time to let God fill with joyful things.
It all feels so youthful as I’m running around with my husband like we’re newlyweds. It reminds me of the promise in Psalm 103 and how God “satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.”