While We Wait...

In the spirit of Family Day Weekend, whilst also patiently awaiting the birth of my first child, I decided to lay down some perspective.

Some would say that our baby is now 12 days overdue; I however, recognize this period in time as the baby, or more specifically, God, waiting for us to be fully ready to take charge and become stewards of an eternal soul. In order to be effective stewards in this regard there is a hierarchy in life that needs to be dwelt upon and acknowledged.

My first responsibility as a human being is to recognize that I was fearfully and wonderfully made by the same individual that designed the entire universe. Therefore my first priority in life is to my God and Creator. Upon giving my life to Christ to do with as He sees fit, I have come to a good grasp of this concept and look forward to spending the rest of my life learning more about Him and how He wants me to use my years here on Earth.

But probably one of the most foreign concepts of God being number one in my life came when I married my wife. Not only did she accept this fact about my list of priorities in life, but she also vowed to stand by me forever ranked as number two. In a world full of people striving to be number one in everything, in a society where self-sufficiency is held in the highest regard, I was simply awestruck by a woman who pledged to be my life-mate and never have an expectation to be my first priority in life.

Which brings me here, to a blog for my firstborn, who will henceforth be priority number three in my life.

As I worship my Father in Heaven on a daily basis, I pray this child will recognize who my heart belongs to first and foremost. But I just wanted to make clear to this little one, that as my wife now approaches 10 months of pregnancy - she will always be my number two:

~ Sarena Noelle Elias ~

I thank my number one for bringing me my number two; and I thank my number two for enduring so long, through so much, to present me with my number three!

I am nothing, I deserve none of this - God is awesome!!!

The Transformation of A Room...and Our Lives!

When my parents introduced me to my first bedroom as a baby, they did so with a certain creative flare; my premier dwelling place featured a custom painted mural of two larger than life lions filling one wall, and on an adjacent wall, a waving racing stripe with the big bold words: Here's Mark!

There was something about the effort and time that went into the design of that room that I've always recognized and remembered.

Which is why my wife and I put our creative minds together to do something along those same lines.

Unfortunately our library/den had to take one for the team, after banishing all the books to the basement, we repainted, added mirrored doors to the closet and installed a rather large closet organization system.

Of course all that was done in the 5th month of our pregnancy and we've been procrastinating ever since.

Fast forward to the predicted week of arrival for our special little blessing, and we kicked things into high gear (because manual labour was made for women who are 9 months preggers)!

We crammed the entire redesign and furnishing into a fun-filled day of building/construction, tool-throwing, toe-stubbing, head-smacking, shock-administering, tear-jerking, and God-blessing!

The end result was a cozy little nursery filled with a smorgasbord of stuffed animals and the matching Noah's Ark theme (can't beat the neutrality of animals - since we don't know what we're having).

However, the real project of this room relates back to that childhood mural of mine. I can pretty much define it as the catalyst of my imagination growing up, so I wanted to ensure our son or daughter would have something along those lines to envision, and spur on any creative juices that may flow in the first years of their life. But more specifically, I wanted to inject the major component that was missing from my most influential dormitory: a reason for my being, and the creator of my existence.

Growing up I never knew or had a relationship with an unconditionally loving Father in Heaven, and so there was always an element of hope that was missing from my life. 

The one thing I want most for my child is to know the truth about an all-knowing Creator who fearfully and wonderfully made every being on this Earth. That He is to be honoured, glorified, loved and cherished, and that He transformed me in the same way we transformed this room.

May the Lord dwell richly within these four walls, and do the things for this child that I in my folly and insignificance cannot do.

We thank God for this next chapter in our lives, and for the blessing of the ministry known as "Parenthood".