Beloved

You are 31 this Sunday, February 28. My precious boy. The child who made me a mother. There is total clarity in remembering your birth. You slipped from the confines of your hatchery into incredible open spaces your arms flung in startle reflex, eyes wide taking in lights and shapes .... men like trees standing over you. Your father holding you.

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I can't help tears. I would have kept you by my side forever. But you were a child under my roof so long ago. And this is as it should be. You had to move on ... become a man, have a wife and children of your own. Know what it is to have your children grow away from you. Trading that small trusting child asleep in your arms for the young man or woman running to meet their future.

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I still remember your backward look at me from the backseat of a van that was taking you to your first year at Covenant College. Your children will look back too. Even when they are moving on they will want to know that mom, dad and the homestead are still there like invisible foundations to their well being. You will no longer be teaching and guiding them as directly but your continued example .... a life, all though sometimes rocked, standing firm in the gospel. Joshua David Bird, Jehovah is your salvation, beloved son.

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Both Joshua and David were men that were promised a kingdom and a good land. They both also went through wilderness training periods .... narrow, confined places where God developed and prepared them for the work they were to do ... incubation periods before birthing into the fullness of their domain. A calling they had been prepared for, so when they were fully ready it was received. I have been through many of these narrow passage ways and every time I emerged with larger spheres of wisdom and influence. It is an ongoing cycle.

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While these men were chosen for great tasks they were far from faultless. But through trust, humility and repentance they remained. Joshua a courageous leader and David a man after God's own heart.

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You and Amanda will be an encouragement to your family both financially and spiritually. May you impact your culture with God's love and the gospel. May you love as you have been loved and forgive as you have been forgiven beginning in your own home and moving out from there. Use your freedom to serve. Maintain common sense. "All things are permissible but not all things are beneficial .... seek the good of others." God Bless You