a different perspective
 
babies have a way of changing things. i think that comes as no surprise to anyone reading this. and they change things other than our schedules and the way we spend our hours each day. they also change our perspective on things.
 
today i was nursing grant and had my mac blaring music when a familiar song came into the itunes rotation: “a page is turned” by bebo norman.
 
in previous hearings of this song, i associated it with scott and me, with our relationship, and with our history. after all, it is a song which tells the story of a little girl and a little boy, tracking them from childhood, to salvation, to meeting, to courtship, and to marriage.
 
but today, as i was listened, i was staring into the big, blue eyes of my son, and the words had a different meaning. this time, when i heard bebo sing of God “preparing him the one to hold him up when he comes undone” i thought of a little girl growing up somewhere who is God’s chosen one for my little man. that song has never struck me that way before... but, then, i’ve never been the mom of a son before, either...
 
i thought of the excitement he will one day feel when she steals his heart and he asks her for her hand. i thought of their wedding day. i thought of the man he will become and the life he will lead.
 
and i thought of my girls, reversing the scenario to include two godly young men who will sweep them off their feet and lead them down a path that will include a happy union and a joy-filled life together.
 
and then i began to pray.
 
i prayed for little grant that he will grow into a man like his father: a godly man with a consuming desire to live a honorable life of godly character, a man who can lead without force, a man whose example inspires others, a man whose wife respects and admires him.
 
i prayed for emily and lexi that they will meet and marry men like their father. after all, i know from experience that a marriage to a man like that will be a wonderful thing! what woman would not want to marry a guy like that? what man wouldn’t want to be a guy like that?
 
my eyes teared up as i imagined my grown-up children experiencing love for the first time... as i imagined their hearts filled with the excitement that comes when you meet the person God created for you... as i imagined how they would ask -- and be asked -- to join their lives with another...
 
and so i begin praying for a little girl growing up somewhere in this world, as i’ve been praying for two little boys over the last few years. i know that my parents and scott’s parents did likewise, and our marriage is blessed as a result. may God honor the prayers being prayed for these three little treasures as He honored those of our parents.
 
i wonder how many other songs i’ll hear and find new meaning in now that i have these three people in my life! will all songs that formerly made my heart soften with thoughts of my husband now bring to mind my little boy and his future?
 
things certainly change when you have children. and they continue to change with the addition of each one! and, clearly, your perspective on everything changes as well -- including romantic songs that make you cry for totally different reasons than before! :)
 
Friday, May 29, 2009