Let's Hear it for the Boys

On this Veteran's Day, we are thankful to all the men and women who have served, are currently serving, and will someday serve this country...and to their families. Thank you for the sacrifices you make every day to protect our freedom and our beloved country. You have our prayers and our gratitude.

That being said, I would like to dedicate the rest of this post to boys and men and all the things that make them who they are.

I've been reflecting on the gift of the plethora of boys in my life, and the reasons God put them there. Why would he surround me with three brothers, three step brothers, a manly-man husband, and three sons (one in heaven)? You can imagine my initiation into wife/motherhood. I had been in a home where the woman was in charge, where tea sets and flowers had the free reign of the house. And, I married this man who hunted with guns and went to the woods willingly, and rode big horses that made me sneeze, and slurped his milk when he ate his cereal, and came home dirty and smelly after a hard day's work, and wrestled with our son to bond with him, and thought he should be in charge.

What was this foreign land...and how did I get here?

My posse of church ladies stepped in and taught me the importance of loving, honoring, and respecting my husband. I soon learned to look at having the husband as the head of the family as a gift. They also taught me the importance of shaping my son into a young man with all the characteristics he would need to lead his family one day. Courage, integrity, strength, a protector, a provider...perseverance, commitment, a standard of excellence, the heart of a warrior, a willingness to fight the good fight... to stand for truth...to place his trust in the God who created him.

I have been reflecting on the making of a warrior's heart. A boy just doesn't become a man over night. Seeds have to be planted in his heart along the way. He needs challenges to overcome, adventures to embark on, obstacles to conquer. He needs those things to become the strong man he was created to be. That involves the kind of love that doesn't hold on too tightly...the kind of mother who knows when she needs to let go and get out of the way. And, the kind of father who leads by example. That didn't always come easy for me, a woman who loves to be in control. And a woman who spent many years clinging tightly to the child that wasn't taken home to heaven too soon, while watching the others slip from my grasp. But, I learned...sometimes with the gentle leading of my quiet, but extremely wise husband...that sometimes, I need to step back and get out of the way. Children can't spread their wings and soar when we are holding on too tightly...and they can't learn how to make the right choices if they never have the opportunities to make any choices of their own.

Certainly the God who made the sun stand still and parted the Red Sea is capable of keeping my children in His care, guiding them on the right path, and growing them into the young men He has created them to be...right?

For a girlie girl, I find it interesting that God has, in His infinite wisdom, chosen to surround me with boys my entire life. Perhaps He desires that I learn how to love and honor men and the gift they are to us. Perhaps He meant for me to develop the abiding appreciation that has captured my heart for all things little boy...and big alike. For, I do so adore boy-world (well, most of it!) and all of it's rumbly, tumbly, noisy, burping, giggling, one-liner zinging, golf-swinging, dog rolling, tackling, pizza-eating, muddy, wrestling goodness.

And, it's a good thing. Because, these days my tiny house is full of boys! After school there are James' friends, the neighbor boy, Timothy, and sometimes several of his friends (which are all now man-sized). James played wiffle ball for hours after school yesterday with a few boys while Timothy squeezed a golf game out of one of the fleeting last days of this year's Indian summer with a car full of boys. After bible study, we turned the corner to find several boys playing football on our cul-de-sac in the street.

I said, "What on earth?"

And, then..."Wait a minute...I think these boys belong to me! Or at least one of them!"

Sure enough...it was Timothy and a group of guys playing some "street" ball. James joined in. And, I smiled...shaking my head as I went into the house. They came in all sweaty, red faced and out of breath a few minutes later and launched into a video game, with their raucous trash talking....all crammed into my tiny living room.

My cup runneth over...