“Can’t wait to get home!”

It is that time of year! Students cannot wait to get home: classes have ended, finals are completed, grades are being entered; cars are packed. Students are headed home: the first semester is over!

When our oldest son returned home after his first semester at college, Laurie and I were excited to welcome him home! We couldn’t wait to have him home for three full weeks. He was excited too: sleeping in his own bed, spending time with his siblings, eating mom’s home cooking, reconnecting with high school friends, catching us up on all he had learned and experienced during the fall semester. The three weeks went too quickly, at least for mom and dad.

By the time it was time to return for the second semester, Micah couldn’t wait to get home. Wait a minute we thought: you are home! What do you mean: “you can’t wait to get home?” In the years since, we have welcomed our daughter and youngest son back after their first semesters at college. As we have reflected on those coming home-returning home experiences we realized we had reached a new stage of parenthood, a stage we were not entirely ready for: really letting go. Each of our children had grown in many ways during their first semesters in college. They were more independent; they had developed new friends; they had begun new patterns. Our home was still their home but now they had another home and another life with which we intersected but did not overlap. Our children were breaking away. Our role as their parents was changing. That was good; that was hard.

As you welcome your student home at the conclusion of the first semester, Laurie and I wish a wonderful reunion and a blessed Christmas celebration. We also empathize with you as you experience with your student the two homes your student now has. Breaking away for students is not easy. Really letting go for parents is not easy either.

On this side of eternity we know homes change. They are temporary. However, by God’s grace through faith God has prepared an eternal home for us in heaven with Jesus. It is that home we celebrate this Christmas. It is that home for which we prepare and wait.

Rev. Dr. Brian Friedrich, President

Concordia University, NE