Songs That Make Me Cry

So, it's not a big deal that I cry. Crying makes me feel lots better when I do it and it doesn't bother me much to cry in front of others. Especially Mister. And for some reason it always seems to make him laugh . . . or giggle . . . or get really nervous . . . or whatever. All I know is that I can't even look at him when it happens. It would just make it worse, I think. In his defense, he isn't really laughing at me or mocking me. Truth be told, He just knows me so well and knows what flips that switch that makes the tears flow. He always gives me a big hug though, so it's okay.

I calls songs that make me cry 'stupid'. But they're really not stupid, cause if they make me cry, they must be sayin' somthin' good.

Pioneer Woman and Righteous Buzz shared today about songs that make them cry, so I thought I would share the two that have really touched me. No, they are neither Christian songs nor gospel music, and yet they reach really deep into my heart. Ironically, they are both by the same artist and deal with the same basic idea: life passes too quickly, things change before we know it, and we'll really miss the kids and our lives as we know them now.

You're Gonna Miss This (Click to watch video)

Then They Do (Click to watch video)

It was not so long ago that I dreamed of being old enough to be a cheerleader . . . when I got to the fifth grade! LOL . . . but suddenly I was beyond fifth grade and in high school, dreaming of graduating and getting married.

This Saturday my husband and I will celebrate our twenty-second wedding anniversary. I can still remember the weeks of anxiously waiting to become Mrs. to My Love. What an exciting time that was . . . and it seemed like it would never get there! But, of course, it did . . . and here we are nearly a quarter of a century later(!) with a college-age daughter, two boys who are seniors in high school, and two younger daughters who will both be finished up with school within fours years. Mister has been at his job long enough that he can retire shortly after that.

It seems like only yesterday that my kids were playing out in the back yard in the sand box and on the playset. I remember days when my yard was littered with Little Tikes cars, a Mickey Mouse playhouse, a ride-on toy called Cappy, shovels, buckets, a Flyer red wagon, and Lord knows what else. I remember getting the boys two Lab pups for their fourth birthday, as well as getting Little Miss an American Girl doll for either her eighth or ninth birthday. Now we're watching them (and helping them a bit) buy their own cars, work their own jobs, and become responsible young adults and citizens (Little Miss will be voting for the first time this fall).

Prophetically, I wrote a poem several years ago about how quickly time passes and how things change before we know it. Little did I know that how true those words are and how, literally, my children would spend little time in the sandbox after that!

The Sandbox

As I looked out the window today

Where the children like to play

The wind did bring to my ears

The children's laughter, joys, and tears

Past, present, and future on my heart,

Then I realized with a start -

All too soon the days will be

When no chldren the sandbox will see.

However then shall we fair,

with no noisy children there?

Babies today, grown up tomorrow

Such a thought, potential for sorrow.

But help us, oh Lord, strong to be!

Raising them up in service to thee!

Childhood lasts but for a spell,

Happy we'll be if in your presense they dwell.

The world needs those who would go,

Spreading the gospel to those who don't know.

Use the, Lord, send them please,

This is our prayer when on our knees.

Julia Faulkner/October 22, 2000

Life passes by so quickly . . . and our lives change at the blink of an eye. As much as we wish for things to stay the same, they won't . . . they don't . . . and they can't. If we all stayed our mothers' little darlings forever, who would there be to grow up and have the next generation? It makes the heart hurt nonetheless, and we have songs such as these to remind us.

So, hold them close, tie the apronstrings to their little hearts, lift them up constantly to the Lord in prayer, and be prepared to release them to the life God has chosen for them . . . to live their own lives . . . to allow them to make mistakes and not-so-great choices, and, ultimately, suffer the consequences of those choices . . . and to make you the proudest parent in the whole entire universe.

Excuse me while I go cry.

Love to you all.

J.L.