Your will be done . . .
I’m still recovering from a super busy week, so while I get organized again, here’s a story for you about how I’m NOT a control freak (wink-wink). Hope you have a happy Monday!
For the past 19 years, I’ve prayed for one young lady in particular, then 16 years ago, I started praying for another. I don’t know anything about them at all, yet they’ve stayed on my prayer list month after month, year after year. The only thing I do know about them is that someday, they will marry my two sons.
I pray,
“Dear God, I know you are in total control of bringing the perfect young ladies into my sons’ lives and you know best who is right for them. I don’t even know what these fine young ladies are named, but please let it be something respectable and traditionally spelled so it doesn’t look ridiculous on the invitations. I don’t know where in the world they live, but Father in Heaven, you know I will break out in a hissy-fit topped by hives if they weren’t raised in the South.
And Lord, I ask that you will give these girls good parents who have taught them right from wrong – parents who have taken them to Vacation Bible School, summer camps and their Grandparent’s houses. Let the future additions to my family have Mamas that proved their love for their daughters by clipping giant bows in their blonde, red or light brown, slightly wavy hair, because of course, those hair colors will be a good match for my boys’ complexions and will look fabulous on future Christmas cards.
You told us Lord, that beauty is fleeting and the true character of a woman is far above rubies, but would it hurt to let these girls be just a little bit pretty, at least in the eyes of my boys . . . and actually, would it hurt if my friends thought they were pretty too?
Like your devoted servant Winston Churchill said, “The most beautiful voice in the world is that of an educated Southern woman,” so I ask you to please let these future daughters-in-law have the gift of a good education – but I beg you not to send them to the University of Florida because we just can’t have that kind of ruckus in the family. You know I’m not asking for these girls to be brain surgeons as long as they can give me brilliant grandchildren, thank you Kind Creator.
And Father, although I don’t demand these precious girls come from entitlement, because that often creates spoiled and demanding girls, please let them at least have had the opportunity to attend cotillion so they will know which fork to use, because you know how I’ve threatened my boys over the years by telling them a girl will someday break up with them for using the salad fork for the pot roast. Not that I’m trying to tell you what to do or anything like that God, but just this once, can you let the boys be amazed that I knew what I was talking about and (the right kind of) girls really do care about such things?
And Heavenly Creator, I trust you will use your perfect timing to allow my boys to meet these girls at exactly the right point in their lives, but not too early, because you know how people around here will talk, but don’t wait too long either because I still want to look cute in the photos and be able to dance at the weddings.
Gracious God, I humbly ask that you let these two sweet girls fall in love with my home in Alabama and want to live near me and not drag my boys off to the far ends of the earth, but please don’t let them think I’ll babysit all the time.
But Lord, if for some reason, these future daughters-in-love are sad little orphans with no one to teach them about how we should always trust you with every detail of our lives and not try to tell you what to do . . . well then thank you God, because I’ll get to plan the weddings myself! Bless their sweet little hearts, and a big Amen to you!
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This story first appeared in The Baldwin Times.
What a great Monday morning laugh. A-men
Thanks Jess. Happy week ahead to you.
Love this one.
Thanks for taking the time to read Mary. Glad you liked it!
Leslie Anne.. what a sweet post. I sent it to my sista and 2 friends who have boys. Enjoy your week.
Oh yes, Boy-Moms understand my craziness! Hope you have a great week.
LOL! Leslie Anne, I too have prayed for 2 girls for many years. Don’t be surprised if God keeps you waiting a while! I am still praying at 37 and 31 years, the oldest lived in Austin and away from me for 18 yrs. until he moved here to Fairhope in May. And wouldn’t you know he has already found him a Fairhope girl. Could it really be that God used me in moving me and my husband here 3 yrs. ago???? Of course, I could never tell that to this 37 yr old, because mamas still don’t know anything, right? And the 31 one yr old prayer may be in Okinawa Japan where 31 is stationed in AF. I will take Japanese if God wills it, but bring my baby home!! Awesome blog!!!
Oh Becky! How funny you understand me completely. I’ll be honest, if he loves her and she loves him, I’m good to go, whether it’s Okinawa or Alabama! We’ll both keep praying!
Love this! 🙂 ~Rhonda
Thanks sweetie!
This is too awesome and more than a bit true too!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!
Thanks Lori, same to you!
Is that supposed to be funny? As a Connecticut Yankee I find it very offensive. I prayed my boys (3) would find someone that loved them and that was the end of my prayer. Apparently it worked. I’m sorry I did not like this at all.
You must be a new reader Patty, and don’t realize I write a HUMOR column for our local newspaper . . . but you’ve pretty much confirmed the direction of my prayers. Bless your heart, and thanks for reading.
I’m not a new reader. I truly find it offensive and not funny at all. You know I have been trying to convince my husband to sell our home in Connecticut and move South. He kept telling me we will never be accepted down there because we are Yankees. I hate to say this but I think he is right.
It’s not because you’re a Yankee.
You know after I re-read what I wrote I thought maybe I was wrong so I did a conference call to my friends (all in Connecticut) and they were all offended. One said it is like saying “Don’t take this the wrong way or don’t take this personally” and then they proceed to downgrade you, your beliefs, your life. They all told me things we could write on a blog about southerners but I couldn’t do something like that. My mother (also from Connecticut) brought me up better than that. I did enjoy most of your blog but I feel it is time for us to part company. Also I got your snide remark about it not because I was a Yankee. Maybe you should say another prayer.
You’re right. I’ve never heard one single negative comment about living in Alabama. God bless, and take care.
You must be a new reader Patty, and don’t realize I write a HUMOR column for our local newspaper . . . but you’ve pretty much confirmed the direction of my prayers. Bless your heart, and thanks for reading.
(this comment keeps showing up twice or not at all – sorry for the tech glitch).
A nice lady told me Saturday at that flea market sale I participated in, “I am a damn Yankee. Do you know what that is?” I said, (being nice) “No, Ma’am, I surely don’t.” She said “They tell me it is a Yankee who liked it here so much she didn’t go home!” So I said, “Welcome to Alabama!” She said she’d been here 50 years.
And I do totally get it, this praying for your sons to find the right girl. As you know, I was prepared to accept a sweet girl from Beijing, although that didn’t work out in the end. I am still bothering the Lord regularly because I don’t want my son to be an old maid.
Leslie Anne, I read this and laughed out loud…just imagining all your prayers, knowing that this is tongue-in-cheek!
As for Patty, I strongly recommend she stay right there in beautiful Connecticut where her friends and she totally understand each other, as it seems she has no intention of trying to fit into Southern culture, so why move here and be miserable. I happen to be married to a Yankee and have wonderful Yankee friends who LOVE the South and Southerners. Heaven save us from those outsiders who come down here and patronize us and complain about everything they miss from wherever they moved from. That’s the reason I’d never consider moving anywhere else…’cause I love the South!
A GRITS Girl (Patty, if you’ve really been reading this column, you know what a GRITS girl is).
Well, Miss Marla-Grits-Girl, thanks for knowing this was totally tongue-in-cheek. At first, I thought she was upset because I was writing a story about prayer, or trying to show how ridiculous it is for us to worry about the little things. I never want to offend anyone, but thanks for “getting it.”
I think this is hilarious. Thanks for the laugh.
You’re quite welcome, and thanks for reading Sylvia.
Patty should write her own humor column…oh, wait…she doesn’t have a funny bone! Sorry, Patty, but Southerners are the most hospitable, friendly, helpful, generous, gracious, loving, caring people in this great country of ours. If you and your husband wouldn’t “fit in,” the problem is with you, NOT with the South or true Southerners. Maybe you wouldn’t “fit in” with some of the rude Yankees who have moved here.
Now, now, let’s be kind. My own husband is from up north and it took him a good while to assimilate. I really didn’t even think this story was about the South at all, rather it was supposed to be about how crazy we look when we don’t trust God to do his job. I think I just made his job harder. Oops. Hate it when that happens!
Oh Leslie Anne, this one is a hoot!! My oldest son married a girl from right here in Decatur then they moved to Bham!! The other son married a Connecticut girl and they lived here until recently and they moved to Atlanta. My daughter lives here in town so I am not all alone. I must say I agree with Winston Churchill. I have never heard that quote but I am writing it down!! Thanks for sharing.
I agree about the Winston Churchill quote. I looked it up several times to make sure he said it, and the powerful and perfect internet claimed he did, but I could never find the situation he was in or who he was talking to when he made it. He was a very smart man!
Leslie Anne, I was just reading some of the comments and I have to encourage you to keep writing your sassy posts. Like you, I never have heard anyone say anthing negative about Alabama.:) When we lived in Louisville Ky, my husband was a professor at U of L. One of my friends( maybe she was a frenenmy) up there looked me right in the face and said, ” I told my husband I would never move anywhere south of Louisville because the South is a vast wasteland of ignorance.” How do you respond to that??? Let’s just keep the south and its loveliness a big secret!
I would have told her, “Well, it looks like the vast ignorance has crept up to your neck of the woods!”
Yeah, when I get zingers from people about the South, it’s usually from the people who go ballistic if you say anything negative about their home. Oh well . . .
Thanks for the encouragement!
Your post was fun and the remarks just as much! I prayed for three great boys for my three daughters. Two down and one to go. He does answer prayer. But honestly, I think we may be batting 2 out of 3. This third guy…. only time will tell and a lot of southern cooking! Still praying. She thinks he is the one, so we will hope and be supportive!
PS – I was born a Yankee, but made it to the South for my formative teenage years. I thought the post was not poking fun at anyone group. I had to reread it to make sure. Guess some folks automatically have a chip on their shoulder. Yes M’am, bless their hearts and pass the sweet potoato pie please.
Yeah, I even had to go back and re-read it myself! I think all Mothers want their children to marry someone who was raised close by. Although we may love our daughters and sons in -laws, it hurts to think they may move far away someday.
At least it hurts if you like them!
Thanks Lori!
Oh, Little Bitty Pretty One! This was just marvelous, funny but true! There’s nothing like ‘praying up’ the right ones for your boys! Rest up and thanks for popping in to see me.
be a sweetie,
Shelia 😉
Thanks Miss Shelia. Love it when you stop by to read!