Who Feels the Pain?

Who Feels the Pain?

This week marked a big step for two people close to me. My daughter said, “I don’t know if I can let him go!” On Tuesday, my 3-year-old grandson went to school for the first time. It’s hard to say who felt the pain of separation more: my daughter, her firstborn, or Grandma.

It was deja vu for me as I was transported back in time. Our oldest child began morning pre-school at the same age. I suspect the parent feels the pain more than the child. The youngster is on to new and exciting adventures, while the parent is left behind in the same routine.

Maybe it’s always easier for the one who moves on than the one who is left. My friend Ed, a counselor, says you grieve when you lose a person, place, or thing. It could be just about anything in life, little or big.

I thought about who felt the pain more when we became separated from God back in the Garden of Eden. And who grieved the most? My guess is that it was our Father, God. His pain was unbearable enough to immediately set about implementing the plan He’d had since before the foundation of time to bring us back into that close former relationship with him.