If your child becomes my in-law...

(I stole this idea from a blog by Em, and I thought I'd take a stab at it)

If your child becomes my in-law,

I just want you to know that I am praying for you.  When I am up at night with sick kids.  Running around like a taxi driver.  Throwing in the hundredth load of laundry or picking up another pair of shoes.  I am thinking of you.  Because chances are, you are doing the same exact things.  Taking care of, and molding the children that will someday hold the heart of the ones I love so dearly.

I'm praying you will stand firm against the pressures to have all the "in" items and to over-commit your family.  That you will shut out the evil in the world that tells you aren't doing enough.

I'm praying you'll know when to mention that an outfit is inappropriate or when to bite your tongue that it just isn't something you would wear.  Or when an attitude is standing up for oneself of when it is being rude.

I'm praying you will take your children to church...that the mothers and fathers of our future grandchildren will know the true meaning of worship.  I pray that this will be a pleasant habit, even if it means missing out on some weekend fun with friends.

I'm praying that your love and commitment to your spouse grows year after year and is an incredible example to the children that are watching you.  Your relationship is an example to how your child will love my child.

I'm praying that you will have strength to make it through the most incredible job that the Lord has ever given us.  I pray you will have patience, courage and peace through the years.  And I am praying you keep your eyes on Him.

Will you pray these things for me too?

You don't know how much it means to me that you take good care of your child.  I know it is tough.  Some days are awesome and some days you feel like a failure.  But your child will wake up next to mine for 50 plus years.  Your child will be the one standing next to mine when our grandchildren are born.  Our children will be together, in sickness and in health.  In plenty and in want.  In joy and in sorrow.  Let's make sure we equip them the best we can.

I promise to tend to their hearts tenderly.  I promise to plant seeds of Christ daily.  I promise to teach manners.  I promise to encourage humility, peace, and selflessness.  I promise to hug my kids tightly and teach them to love back appropriately.  And I promise to continue to pray.

Someday we will sit on opposite sides of the aisle.  I don't know about you, but there is no doubt I will be a blubbering idiot.  We will watch our little babies suddenly become husband and wife and make the same vows that we made to ourselves and have kept....against all odds and only by the grace of God.  And we will watch these children create families of their own with the elements we have given them.  The elements we are giving them today.

But until then, I'm going to keep on doing what I'm doing.  And pray the Lord covers all my holes.

And I'm praying for you!