What Time Is It?

I know this guy that I met about 24 years ago. I like him a lot. You know him as the Mr. Yeah, I married this guy.
I write about the Mr. pretty regularly and I’m going to do so again today.
This past weekend was our oldest son’s graduation party. The Mr.’s parents drove up from Alabama with his sister and her kids for the celebration. Wow, time flies by, huh? All of a sudden these two kids from the eighties were the hosts of their own child’s graduation party. Doesn’t seem real to me sometimes that here we are, all grown up.
I find myself at various times throughout the day thinking about the Mr. and how much I love him, how proud I am to be Mrs. Mr. I try to stop when I can to drop him a text message or a voice mail to let him know he’s on my mind. I guess that’s kind of what this is. But it’s also stopping in my day to give thanks for life and what it can do to us.
When we met, Dean and I were young with all the immaturity and lack of wisdom that goes with it. We didn’t know what in the world we were doing. So we became very good at making a fine mess of things.
Today we’re older and wiser and it’s better. I have no desire to join Cher in turning back time.
I watched my husband run all over creation picking up the best Mexican food from two different restaurants and several stores for our son who has dietary limitations so his boy could eat all his favorite foods. I watched him setting up tables and hauling cases of pop and making a hundred trips to grab the things we’d forgotten. This is the Mr. I’m used to and always grateful for.
Then I saw him greet his mom and dad, who are getting older and whose health is not great. I saw the gentle transition of Dean the dad to Dean the adult son watching out for them, making sure they didn’t stumble walking across the yard, settling them in with their food.
Twenty years ago I would’ve been on his back to mingle, greet the guests, keep an eye on the food. Not now. Now he’s more dependable, more aware, more of all the good things and less of the immature things.
Last night we took his parents out to dinner before they headed back to Alabama. His mom uses a walker. He helped her into the car, walked slowly with his hand on her arm to steady her. He recommended meals he knew they’d enjoy from the menu.
After we ate Dean drove us past the property our church will build on to share it with his mom and dad. Then we drove past a few houses they had lived in , where his grandparents lived and then to drop them at his grandmother’s home where they spent the night. He walked his mom back up the porch and into the house.
When he got back into the car he said he didn’t think they’d be back this way again, the trip was just too hard for them now. He said he worries about them, it’s hard to see them struggling.
Life sure does march on, doesn’t it? The 17 year old kid is now a 41 year old man and when I look at him it makes me say, “Look what God has done!” I’m thankful for this man, who has let God mold him into a good man. A good dad, husband and son. I’m thankful that the stuff he used to overlook or not deal with he now confronts with wisdom and insight. I’m proud of him.
Most of all, I’m thankful that the Lord uses the years to show Himself through us. I’m thankful that what we were isn’t what we are, and it makes me feel ready for what will be. I used to wonder if we’d make it, how we’d make it, what would become of us. But now I see that God prepares our steps and makes us ready.
I’d like to encourage you to not mourn time gone by, but embrace it. Ask God for eyes to see the ways He has changed you or those you love into a greater likeness of Him. Or maybe, ask Him to start that work now; so in years to come you can look back thank Him for time.
Thank you God, for the years. Thank you for your gentle hand changing us and making us into your likeness. Thank you for my husband. When I see this man standing between the worlds of son and father and doing both with honor and grace; I stand in awe of You. The glory is yours.

Ecclesiastes 3:11, 12
11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. 12 I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live.