5. A Mother’s M.T.C. Farewell
The mood was quite electric when I dropped you off today,
Merely one of several hundred who would soon fly far away.
In the crowd of eager “greenies”, you could hear me wish you well.
But there’s something I felt deeply that I had no time to tell.
Like the others, you grew up so fast, I found it hard to see.
For, to me, it seems like yesterday you crawled on hands and knees.
In just weeks you leave this mission home, and then you’re on your own,
Like most mothers, I’m too slow to note how fast my daughter’s grown.
In your youth, you mastered algebra, and history, and more,
And you found an easy talent that could open any door.
You have cause to thank the Father for the good that you can do,
But as you begin this mission, harder subjects wait for you:
Have you heard the Spirit’s witness of the Father of us all?
Do you feel inside the truth that we, at best, are still so small?
Have you placed within the center of your life the risen Christ?
And have you learned His grace will never have an earthly price?
Abraham saw countless worlds and learned that man is less than dust.
And proud Job was tested by the Lord in whom he learned to trust.
All man’s mighty works together can’t compare to one of God’s.
Our worst trials never match one step in sorrow Jesus trod.
We can search out this world’s wisdom, we can climb its highest peaks,
But alone we can’t reach Heaven if that is the goal we seek.
For despite our finest efforts, and the thirst we have to “win,”
We confess that just the Son has lived a life that’s free from sin.
It was good to strive for excellence in all that you could do.
There was merit in each contest that brought out the best in you.
But you have a greater challenge, and a true and safe reward,
As you live to seek our Savior, and obey His sacred word.
Know you always have my blessing as you strive to serve our God,
With a courage that will puzzle those who shun the path Christ trod.
But their worldly trinkets perish, and their pleasures quickly pass.
Only those who follow Jesus gain the joy that truly lasts.
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