February 4, 2021 I’m pretty pumped about this Art-to-Remember fundraiser. It’s a win-win. I love it from that we on the preschool side can help your kiddos create something special for you, and I also love the fact that this gives you some answer to the age old question – what do I do with my child’s artwork? All the artwork? It made me start thinking of the question: What do we keep and what do we let go?
As a first-time preschool mom (honestly, as any mom may be with her first child), I kept literally everything that came home from Lily’s first day in the 2’s class. 20 handprints in paint? On the wall. Scribble with crayon that might have looked like the letter “L” if I focused hard enough? On the fridge. Feathers, glitter, necklaces – it all went up, and then eventually ended up in a large storage tote that eventually ended up in my attic. I felt terrible throwing anything away. What if I threw away something critical to her development? What if I threw away something that was meaningful to her? What if I threw away something and she asked where it went? (Later, after throwing away old artwork in a transparent white kitchen bag and listening to the excruciating “I made that, Mommy”, I learned the secret of black trash bags. That’s where it’s at, parents.)
The truth is, while the question of what to keep and what to let go can certainly pertain to our kids’ preschool artwork, doesn’t this question hit home in many other ways? How many of us hold onto all the stress and anxieties of the everyday, rather than letting some of it go so we can breathe deeper and more easily? How many of us hold grudges or the pain of past experiences, rather than letting go in order to see the promise of tomorrow? How many of us hold desperately on tight to what we thought would be, rather than letting go and accepting what is?
These aren’t easy questions to ask or answer and I’m pretty sure we all do these things. It’s easier to hold on than to let go. Who’s going to catch us when we let go?
God is here, there, and everywhere, with arms outstretched wide, just for this very reason. I have to believe that He is the ultimate “trust fall”. Holding on sure feels more familiar, comfortable, easier knowing that the letting go is often the scariest part of all. Sometimes we let go by sheer faith alone. But I also am comforted that God is everywhere and in all places to catch us and guide us to where we need to be when we make that choice to just let go.
By the way, preschool artwork is a WHOLE different story with your second child. Poor Luke. I’m sure he will be scarred somewhere down the road knowing that I admired, ooh-ed and ahh-ed, sorted, and promptly (?) – eek! – threw away in a transparent white trash bag when he left the room. Call me a monster, sure. But you know I will be ordering all those IPhone cases and yard flags with whatever this child puts on paper in the next week or so.
Solidarity, peeps.