Behold, a Son!

Behold, a son!

In my most recent post, Worship While You Wait, I wrote about the importance of doing just that: waiting well upon the Lord, season by season, and worshipping Him with confidence as you do so. In His providence—and perhaps, good humor—the Lord saw it fit that the time of our waiting for the arrival of our son should come to an end the very next day, thrusting Elaina and me into a new season—one that shall never truly come to an end, though it will take on different shades and hues as the years pass by.

I’ve often remarked that I feel my wife and I have always been married. It didn’t take long for us to settle into the new rhythms demanded by marriage; so much so that, after only a few months, I felt hard-pressed to remember what single life was like. We were young, no more than loosely stuck in our ways, rather mature, and deeply in love—and above all, the Lord was for our marriage. This made the transition from engagement into living life together as one rather easy and altogether joyful for the two of us. I fully realize this may not be everyone’s experience, but I praise God that it has been and continues to be ours.

After seeing and holding my son for the first time, a similar change came over me. Our son was born only a few days ago, and already I cannot possibly imagine our little family without him. I am a father, and cannot think of my life outside of this new, joyful reality—“The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Corinthians 5:17).

I’ve been meaning to write something about my son’s arrival for a few days now, but each time I set my mind to the work, the words seem to come up short, if any words come at all. Words, for all their charms and depths, are of little use here.

If you are a parent, surely you know what I mean. Or, rather, I now know what you have meant all these years. Throughout my life, I’ve been hearing from parents and grandparents, aunts and uncles, and all manner of friends and distant relations that something beautiful—something altogether expected and yet, somehow, unexpected—envelopes you as a parent the first time you hold and behold your child—behold, a son! I can’t quite put it into words, but suffice it to say, I get it now. We are so very in love with him, more than we ever thought possible. Parents—you were right!

The past few days have been some of the most tiring and yet most joyful of our lives. Indeed, there is nowhere else I’d rather be and nothing else I’d rather be doing. To faithfully steward this role of husband and father, given to me by the Giver of all good things, is the great privilege of my life.

Our little man keeps us busy with his shenanigans, at times summoning his inner King Darius—“no diversions were brought to him, and sleep fled from him” (Daniel 6:18). But through it all, we rejoice in the incalculable gift that he is to us and many others, delighting already in the little bits of his personality that shine through all his ways. In the days and years to come, please pray for us as we seek to raise our son “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4).

And above all, we give all glory to our great God and Father, and to our Lord Jesus Christ, who has been so, so very near and so very good to us.

“Behold, children are a heritage from the LORD, the fruit of the womb a reward. Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one’s youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them!”

—Psalm 127:3-5

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