Walk With Me

We went to a wedding yesterday. Weddings often make me teary - not the need-a-tissue kind of teary just the lump-in-the-throat kind of teary. Last night was no exception. A few sniffles as the bride's parents talked and as she danced with her dad. But unlike other weddings we've been to, the lump in my throat didn't come from thoughts of George and I exchanging vows and sitting at that head table. Maybe it's the twelve years of wedded bliss, maybe it's the depth of our love, maybe it's the three kids we're rearing, maybe it's the recognition that those kids aren't getting any younger (although George keeps threatening to stunt their growth with coffee and cigarettes!), maybe it's the fact that I'm closer in age to the mother of the bride than the bride. But, last night had both George and I thinking ahead not back. Thinking not of our wedding day but of the wedding day of our kids.

The beautiful words that were exchanged between a son and a daughter and their parents had my mind wandering to the day my kids might stand up and exchange vows with the one they love. I pray that on that day they too will thank us for being parents who walked with them through good and bad, who were present in their lives, who taught how to live by example, who's marriage was marked with a love for each other and an even greater love for God. I better stop writing now - that lump in my throat is returning.

Today I vow to be that parent to my kids and that wife to my husband. To love deeper, to serve better, to live more fully.

We don't know that road ahead - but whatever it is I will walk with them.