Joshua 24:15
“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”
The dreaded word uttered by teachers in every level of my education … “homework.” I didn’t want to do schoolwork, much less have to take my academic lessons home to complete them! My home was to be my sanctuary, my place to relax and enjoy the things I loved — not a place to be invaded by the drudgeries of academic exercises. However, I have come to realize that by blending my two and very separate worlds of school and home together, I have been given a more well-rounded education as well as a more complete perspective in life.
After becoming an adult and thinking that I had finished school, the hard reality of life’s new lessons kicked in. Marriage, children, financial responsibilities, civic duties, etc. all became mine to learn and to live if I was to be a successful contributor in society. I found out that the things that are truly important were worth the effort, and they most certainly would always cost me something. Whether it was time or money or sacrificing what I was planning, everything costs and I had to choose what was and was not worth the sacrifices and investments in life.
At the age of 21, I married the love of my life and we both quickly found out that life was much different for couples than it was for singles. Funny how life has a way of painting a mirage in front of you, and as soon as you commit, reality hits you pretty hard. I had never considered myself as a selfish person, but again, all the life experience I had up until then was based on the choices I made for me.
Marriage was wonderful and the lessons (while tough at times) were some of the greatest proofs of God’s plan for our lives. We learned that it takes work to be a married couple and it takes a lot of work to be a happily married couple! Both have to commit to give more than each takes. Both have to listen more than they talk. Both have to be willing to serve more than they are served. It really takes some getting used to, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world!
Then we had kids! (Cue the music.) Each and every one of my children brought their own unique ingredients into what my wife and I had hammered out to be the “perfect” home. Now, my children come along and everything changes again … and again … and again … and again … and again! (We have five.) The bathroom was always occupied, and the supplies were frequently used up. The grocery bill only grew larger and larger, while the budget had to be juggled like a circus act to stay afloat. Clothes, shoes, school, friends, extra-curricular activities all became a part of the “new normal” as we were growing accustomed to living as a family.
Two girls, then two boys, were God’s gift to us to continue His plan and development of character in our lives. While alike in so many ways, no two who were enough alike that we didn’t have to revisit our life lessons in parenting again and again.
Then the Lord allowed us to suffer the loss of a child by miscarriage. God’s word teaches that the baby is a baby in the womb and this baby in the womb was our child. As a family, we were broken in a way we had only heard about, but never had experienced for ourselves. Six years later, it somehow still brings tears to my eyes and a heaviness in our hearts to think about what “might have been.” God knows what is best, and He always does us right!