Time continues to move swiftly. Fargo is now just two weeks away.
This week, my son had a change in his training schedule so he has been taking me to work and heading directly to the morning practice. He comes back and we eat lunch together.
This morning, my wife gave each of us a bowl of her chili in our lunch bags. We found a picnic table and got down to the task at hand, two men silently enjoying a very practical manifestation of God’s goodness, spoonful by delicious, savory spoonful. That chili was SOOO good!
I was just enjoying the moment when my thoughts momentarily left the chili to the fact that I don’t have much more time with this young man. And then, almost immediately, I had two simple but significant realizations…
He is leaving for college…
I am not…
I saw a delicious opportunity (forgive the pun) to both make an important impression and have fun with him at the same time…
“You’re going to be leaving for college in just a few short weeks.”
“I know.”
“You’re excited about IT?” as I took another bite of chili.
“Yeah.” He took a bite.
“I think it’s going to be good. It’s going to be a great time of learning. Your going to realize a bunch of things.”
I took another bite.
He looked at me with a quizzical expression on his face and took another bite.
“One of the things that you are going to realize…”
I took another bite…
“is that the woman who made this chili married me and not you.”
He winced ever so slightly.
You might say that is cold hearted of me. I disagree.
First, since we aren’t going to be shipping him food via FedEX, that means that his days of enjoying his mom’s cooking are rapidly drawing to a close. He needs to appreciate how blessed he has been. It might turn out to be much easier to cut weight for wrestling at Drexel than it has been at home!
Second, he also needs to realize that he needs to trust God to bring him a wife. That realization should cause him to grow in his relationship with God and spur him to fully become a man.
Third, he might want to believe for a woman who can cook!
“Blessed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl.”
