To 2021 and Beyond!

Yesterday I was placing an order with my Discover card.  We just received new cards, with a new expiration date.  As I typed the new number in, I was suddenly struck by the future. The new expiration date is 2021.  What will life look like in 2021?  I will have a 21-year-old daughter, sons aged 20, 17, and 15, and a not-so-little daughter aged 13.  I can't really imagine with my finite mind the future selves of my children (and my husband and I too, for that matter!).  What will they be doing? How will their personalities develop and emerge?  What will their interests be?  Oh the excitement of the open book ahead of us!

Last night I finished up watching Parenthood on Netflix.  Oh did I love that show!  The writing was so spot on - it was funny and tender and quick-witted.  I am sorry it is over.  I don't want to include any spoilers, but I will say that near the end of the show, there was a family get together and the parents, their four adult children and significant others and their children were all together.  It was a huge group with laughing, craziness and joy.  And oh!!  That is what I pray for (minus A LOT of the heartache and inappropriate decisions made on the show of course!) - to be surrounded by my husband and children and sons- and daughters-in-law, grandchildren, great-grandchildren.  Honestly, I cannot imagine anything more wonderful than that.  

So in 2021, we won't quite be there yet. . .the kids will still have a lot of growing to do.  Though I desperately want time to slow down so I can savor these moments now, I also look forward to seeing those grown-up versions of the people I love so fiercely.  I can't wait to see what God has in store for them, for the new people He will bring into our lives, and for the new people he is going to create!  Praise God for his gift of family!