Wild at Heart

Baby Boy enjoying his afternoon rock on the back porch.

Recently I was cleaning out our guest room and I found a book that I bought Phillip when we first started dating, Wild at Heart.  I have never read the book but did read the female counterpart, Captivating by John and Stasi Eldredge, and highly recommend it.  I remembered a friend of mine from college telling me that she hoped I would read it if I ever had a son because it would provide a lot of insight into the masculine heart as God created it to be.  I decided to read a bit while waiting on Emory to wake up from his afternoon nap.

I don't know that this book would have struck me in any way, shape or form had we not had Emory.  We desperately long to nurture him in a loving, godly environment and see him flourish into the man God created him to ultimately be.  Do I have any idea now to raise a son?  NONE AT ALL (and a FEW of my apprehension were documented months ago on this very blog)!  I know that we don't want to place our expectations and aspirations on his shoulders to carry around as his life's burden, but we want to encourage him to discover what makes him come alive and to pursue that dream to the very end.

We can't read his mind (although when he's been crying for well over an hour or so we wish we had that talent).  Right now the two of us do all that we know how to do: LOVE HIM with every single fiber of our beings.  John Eldredge has a house full of boys.  He draws a clear picture for how raising sons differs from daughters and offers this helpful advice:

"The recipe for fun is pretty simple raising boys.  Add to any activity an element of danger, stir in a little exploration, add a dash of destruction, and you've got yourself a winner."

He is mesmerized by trees and birds!

When Phillip and I first started dating everyone remarked about our OBVIOUS differences.  In a way we've both mellowed, but our differences have kept us balanced.  Phillip is a man's man.  He loves the outdoors, manual labor, and lest we forget college football.  I.LOATHE.ALL.OF.THE.ABOVE.  (Ok, I've learned to like football.)

Emory, oh buddy, not only does he look like his daddy but he takes after his loves and likes as well.  From Day 1 if we needed to pacify Little Man all we had to do was open the back door and take one giant step OUT.  Needless to say, I've learned to like afternoon chat sessions with him on the back porch and evening walks through the neighborhood.  When I was reading yesterday, I found the quote below and it deeply resonated with me.

"Eve was created within the lush beauty of Eden's garden.  But Adam, if you will remember, was created outside the Garden, in the wilderness.  In the record of our beginnings, the second chapter of Genesis makes it clear: Man was born in the outback, from the untamed part of creation.  Only afterward is he brought to Eden.  And ever since then boys have never been home indoors, and men have had an insatiable longing to explore.  We long to return; it's when most men come alive...The core of a man's heart is undomesticated and that is good."

I love that Emory is so much like his daddy, and I love that his daddy is a true portraiture of a man that's WILD AT HEART!  I just have to learn to love the dirt, bugs, and chaos that comes with that package.  :-)

Just as content as he can be in his true element.  :-)