little men

I was sitting at the computer today just finishing up with my emails and blogs. Ethan came over and grabbed my arm to give me a hug. I turned around so that I could give him a proper one with both arms and he stayed like that for a moment longer than usual. Bebo was of course playing in the background, a song called Try, off the album of the same name. It's a moving, sentimental song about him and his wife, being a boy, dreams...a specific line in the song always grabs me. It's so honest, vulnerable, and it makes me think about men in our culture. The struggle to survive, thrive and be men in a feminist society.

Bebo sings, "I'm afraid to grow up, but somewhere inside is the will of a man". I won't try to add or subtract from the ideas Bebo is trying to convey with his lyrics, but it makes me think of my little boys. I'm a girl who has grown up in this society where men are demeaned, mocked and disrespected. They are my children, but they will be men one day and I am a woman helping to raise them to become those men. Men who love their Father, cherish their wives and children, stand up for goodness and truth and virtue. I'm humbled and blessed to be their mother and at the same time I am so thankful that their Heavenly Father loves them even more than I do and will work out His perfect plan for their lives. I know that this plan will include sadness and struggle because that is the way of the Cross. But I believe it will also include joy and peace and I pray, an all-consuming love for their Maker.