..::the love of a lifetime::..

Well…its past my bedtime.  But I need to process my thoughts. 

This weekend was busy.  Fun. Crazy.  All of the above. 

My sister Jes got married.  To Tom. 
This is a good thing. 

This is a great thing. 

 

Here’s the thing…
Tom is a guy (obviously). 
He is the oldest of 5 boys.   
The firstborn son. 
The first to leave the nest. 

His mama cried. 

Tears of joy mostly (I think…for she loves Jes…)

But also, tears of letting go. 

 

As she was dancing with her son, my aunt turned to me, and

Began to share with me her own experience of letting go of her firstborn son.

 

For many, many years (that seem like merely days in retrospect), this boy belongs to you.

You are his mama….

The woman in his life.

All of a sudden…you are not the woman in his life. 

You hand him over to another.

She is now the one to love him,

feed him,

cherish him,

speak tenderly to him when he needs comfort.

She is who he will turn to when life is wonderful…

and when life is terrible.

 

This is how its supposed to be. 

It’s a good thing.

Not an easy thing, I can imagine.

 

I lay awake tonight thinking about that moment in my life when I will be dancing with my son at his wedding. 

Wanting to hold him forever (and I will, in my heart),

But giving him to his bride.

(I have tears rolling down my cheeks as I write…) 

 

The thing I am sensing most strongly right now, tonight…is this:

We, as godly women…..mothers…NEED to begin now to pray for that specific woman

(who is presently a girl,

 or perhaps an infant,

or maybe not yet conceived….)

We need to pray for them their whole lives through.

We need to pray for their own parents…to be able to model true and godly love.

We need to pray that the Holy Spirit would penetrate their hearts from a young age…before they make regrettable mistakes. 

We need to pray that God would mold them and shape them into women. 

Gentle, lovely and peaceable….

Not women of the world’s standards. 

Not women who merely chase fashion and beauty and material things. 

Women who are hungry for the things of God. 

Hungry for truth. 

Hungry for righteousness…

I want to look forward to the day when I hand my firstborn son to his beautiful, blushing bride with peace in my heart.

Knowing that God, in response to my prayers, and those of her own parents, has been shaping her and preparing her throughout her life…

preparing her for this moment,

this lifetime…

 

Lord, I commit her to you now. 

And my son also. 

Mold him into your likeness,

Teach him to recognize your voice in the midst of the cacophony of this world.

Make him desirous for a woman of noble character. 

One handpicked by you…

And give me the grace to model what a woman should be to a man, to her children,

And to her God.

 

*m*