Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Teaching Her To Tackle

There are certain things in life every guy looks forward to: Getting married, the World Series, a good meal, and teaching his son to play catch. As many of you may know we are having a girl! Laura and I are extremely excited about having a girl but if I am honest I had to deal with the realization that I will not be playing tackle football, at least not yet. I have jokingly been saying that I suppose I will have to learn ballet'...I already know first position!

Though I joke about it I have started to seriously think and pray about how much of a blessing having a girl is for me. I can imagine how confident and dare I say arrogant I would been had the sex of our child been a boy. I mean honestly, I KNOW guys, I UNDERSTAND guys, I have EXPERIENCE being a guy, I would be a natural father... or would I? When being honest with myself I know I have a significant tendency to let my confidence grow in direct proportion to my comfort. As a newly wed and first time father I truly have nothing to be confident about except that all things work for the good of those who love God.

Perhaps God, being gracious and merciful, has prevented a Zach Hanlon fathering disaster. How arrogant would I have been about raising a son? How much more would I have depended upon my own strength and wisdom? How much less would I have entrusted my son's life to Christ? A daughter is just the most recent of many undeserved blessings in our life.