Fashionably Late

"Kissing Cousins" : )

just like her mommy
our little niece has decided to take her time
and arrive fashionably late
with her own dramatic flare
and sweet romantic sensibilities
I look up at my "little" sister
facing the epic bildungsroman of motherhood
and still see a gangly nine year old
walking down the aisle
having arrived just minutes before
with a basket of flower petals
and pins still hidden in her dress
but a joy and bounce in her step
the bridesmaids had all grown out of
and a glowing smile grinning with dreams
they may have envied for a moment
three years later a daddy disappeared
in a hospital waiting room
like a car crash in slow motion
the first of many men to love, bruise, and leave
and the checkered flag was waved
growing up at NASCAR pace
and feeling a little queasy in the passenger's seat
just trying to brace herself for the next turn
the next driver to climb through the window
to love, bruise, and leave
But You had in mind a blessing she couldn't imagine
disguised as a mistaken compromise
all wrapped in pink and waiting for her
to end the spin cycle and rest in You
because it’s easy to see her daughter’s worth it
when she can’t seem to see it in herself
yet she still has that breathless fear of failure
bracing herself for the next romance and rejection
scared little Avery will follow in her footsteps
instead of walking in the truth of You
but the mother hen is pecking at the surface
and calling her back into Your arms
to the cliff's edge of complete trust
the image and reality of the one man
she can lean on
who comes to love, heal, and stay
and she wishes she'd stayed there years ago
but has that joy back in her walk
as she grins all the way to the hospital
baby equipment locked in her car
and You locked in her heart
fashionably late



Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
John 13:7

"I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth." 3 John 1:4