Letters To Our Sons - January

One of my goals for the year is to be a more intentional parent, photographer and blogger. This year i have the honor to participate in a couple of groups monthly, where we write and share letters to our sons and daughters. You can view the letter to my daughter here. Below you will find the first letter to my son. Please be sure to follow the link at the end to read the letter the wonderful Bonnie has written to her son and then follow through the circle to read all the other letters these wonderful ladies have written to their sons.

  Dear Man Child,

It is hard for me to write this letter to you, my first born.  I love you fiercely, yet it sometimes seems the battles we face are fierce.  You have rocked my world since the moment I found out I was expecting you.   Suddenly, I was no longer living just for myself.  You've been everything I'm not.  You love schedule and routine;  I love flexibility and spontaneity.  You love quiet and staying home;  I love noise and being gone.  You are decisive;  I am indecisive.  We couldn't be more opposite, yet the same.  I see you give up before you try for fear of failure, driven by that same perfectionist instinct that freezes me.  While you yearn for schedule, you struggle with discipline and prefer to take the easy way out, but you press on and do what you know is good and right.  

It seems that just yesterday you were that tiny baby, demanding my time and attention, yet I long to turn back the time and spend my days holding you and playing with you.  I was so concerned with doing everything right as a first time mother, that I didn't enjoy you and drink in every moment like I have with the other children.  I know now how quickly you grow up and I savour every moment we have now, even the moments of heated discussion.  I appreciate your kind, generous and forgiving heart.  You are always so quick to forgive when I make the many mistakes I make in parenting you.  It's been a journey for us both and I'm sure you've suffered from my lack of skills but your love has never faltered.

Even now I worry as I watch you becoming a man.  It scares me to know that in just a few short years you will leave the nest and launch out into the life God has called you to.  I see you struggling trying to determine what that is. I struggle as well as I attempt to over direct you in that path and help you along too much. I don't want you to fail, but I must let you try even if that means bumps, bruises and perhaps even failure. If I pad your way too much the reality of life will be even harder on you. I also recognize the battle in your soul as you want so much to be a man one moment and a child the next. At times you feel like you can conquer the world and then there are the moments you escape into that childhood world of make believe where you really do rule and conquer. No matter how much your grow or how far you roam, you will always be my son, my firstborn, the one who taught me so much about love and sacrifice. My heart fills with pride as I see the man you are becoming and know that you know the One who created you. I can rest in knowing that you are seeking Him and He has much greater plans for you than I could ever dream. Although, I love you more than you could even imagine, He loves you more than I and you are under His careful watch and care. I love you and are so proud of the boy you are the man you are becoming.

Next up is the lovelyBonnie, click on over to visit her and read her wonderful letter to her son and then be sure to continue on through the circle.