On March 19th my son, Gus Howard Hebert, was born. Thanks for all of your well-wishes and congratulations. (Above is a photo of the little booger.)
My wife, Natalie, and I have been adjusting to our new family life. For almost nine years we have lived happily married and on our own. A year ago we acquired our dog, Maeby, and now we have a full-fledged family with a brand new little baby. In the last year we’ve gone from freewheeling to responsibility-laden.
These new events have led me to think more carefully about my role as husband. Natalie and I try to live by Jesus’ two commands found in Matthew 22.37–40:
- Love God.
- Love others.
We always talk about how we consider our spouse to be our “first other”; when it comes to loving others, the first person on my list should be Natalie. Even with the dog and the baby, I don’t think this has changed. Natalie is still my primary responsibility. If I’m loving God and loving her, then my love for little Gus (and Maeby!) will take care of itself; our love will spill over and nourish him.
I don’t know what marriage with children really looks like. But I do know that this is my primary duty:
“Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her…” (Eph. 5.25)
Ah, a fantastic time. A lot of what Paul writes about being united with your wife really becomes all the more clear with children. The other notable thing is time seems to further speed up. You realize how each stage in life is both so enjoyable and fleeting.
Christian\’s last [type]: \"Devotional: In death heaven’s morning breaks, earth’s vain shadows flee.\"