God made a boy — or, what I need to remember this mother’s day

This is for the ones who call me mom. The ones who make me laugh, cry, love, worry, clean, scream, clean some more and feel all the things, all the time. For 14 years, I have wondered what was God  thinking when he created these boy creatures and decided I could handle 3 of them?! This might not be how it actually happened. But I imagine that it went something like this …

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. He created night and day and sun and moon and all of the creatures that roamed the earth and swam in the seas. He looked upon it and saw that it was good. But maybe, as he took in the beauty of his creation, God decided that there needed to be someone who would search the far reaches of his land, peer under every fallen log, pick up every strange looking leaf, discover every slimy, messy bug that crawled his earth and call it a treasure.

So God made a boy.

Maybe he wanted to make sure that someone would get up early to see his sun rise and stay up late to count all of his stars; and that someone would search for rainbows, marvel at thunderstorms, splash in mud puddles, make enormous snowballs and actually taste mud pies.

So God made a boy.

Maybe God thought that all of this creation he had spoken into being was just a little too quiet? And he knew that there needed to be someone who thought everything had to have point value and that life was one big competition. What would his world be like without someone who could run fast and never watch where he was going, or scream, “THAT WAS AN OUT! NO DO-OVERS!” for hours on end or attempt to ride a skateboard down a flight of stairs? God knew that his world would indeed be incomplete.

So God made a boy.

Perhaps, though, as he was working, God suddenly considered the mothers who would be raising these boys. The mothers who couldn’t keep up with the dirt, the bugs, the loud and the competition of it all. So he tweaked his plan just a bit.

He made those boys with sticky hands just the right size to slip into the hand of a mama so intent on getting it all done. He made them with the desire to plant sloppy kisses right on the cheek of a mom teetering on the edge of losing her mind in all the crazy. And he gave them sweet little voices to ask “why?” a thousand times because he knew those mamas would need to be reminded  to slow down and listen.

He gave those boys hearts so big and eyes so wide so that if you peered right into them you could see how God meant life to be lived; free and full of adventure.

Yeah. God kept working and he made that boy.

You see, he was certain that someone could build great forts out of those huge trees he had planted. And someone could dig gaping holes in the dirt that covered his earth. And there really needed to be someone who would try anything once and dare the others not to. Someone who could run through the door with mud on his shoes for the 975th time that day, laugh at the slamming sound and yell, “Can I have a snack?” at the top of his lungs.

He wanted to make someone who could melt his mama’s heart just by taking his little brother’s hand, and make his Daddy proud by remembering to say ‘Yes ma’am’.

Someone who could take things apart just to figure out ‘how’, wonder what’s for dinner at 7am, eat three plates of spaghetti and still be hungry, try for three hours to slam dunk a ball, laugh at gross jokes and wrestle with anything that walks.

Someone who could, overnight, grow so tall, so handsome and so strong that just looking at him could make his mama’s heart skip a beat.

So God made a boy.

Perhaps God knew we needed to remember that it’s okay to get a little dirtier, play a little harder, scream a little louder and fall down a few more times. He knew that these boys would make us all run faster, breathe deeper and trust more. He knew we needed to learn that you can get a better view if you climb up that tall tree.

So God made a boy.

And he gave them right to us. He put them in our families, in our neighborhoods, in our classrooms, and right in our hearts. But. When he was done, I imagine he paused.

He must have waited patiently for just a moment. And when he heard all of the noise fill up the expanse of his creation. Then he knew that he was done. Now nothing else was missing and this life he had created was indeed good. Very good.

Maybe that’s how it all happened? I don’t know.

But, I do know this: boy or girl, mom or dad, grandmother or aunt or neighbor or friend, we are all “fearfully and wonderfully made”. God created each of us in holy and sacred ways, with gifts he intends for us to use to bring him glory.  May we celebrate those gifts as we give thanks for our own moms and the ones who call us mom.

And boy moms? Yeah. I hear your noise. Hang in there! Happy Mother’s Day, friends.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,  to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21).