Preparing for Baby: Our Hearts

We’ve been busy preparing our home for Baby B and getting all the “goods”.  However, things aren’t everything.  More than anything, we’ve been trying to prepare our hearts.

Going from just a young married couple to parents with a baby is a huge step.  And sometimes it can be scary.  After all, there’s a little life growing inside of me that we will have to feed and care for and be responsible for raising! 

We know what to expect.  We know that babies take a lot of work, and that sleep will be almost obsolete.  We know that there will be times that he’ll be screaming and crying and we’ll be pulling our hair out.  We know that we’ll have to suddenly think about bed times and feedings, and deal with tantrums and sleepy screaming, before going out anywhere.  We know all these things, but are we really ready?

Andy and I were talking recently, and we realized that the biggest thing we need to be praying about is that God would prepare our hearts for this little one.  We know plenty of parents that view their children as burdens or hindrances.  We’ve been told time-and-time again that we need to get ready because it’s going to be really hard, and that our lives will be pretty much over.  But we don’t want to see our baby and parenting that way.

When we got engaged, we got sick of hearing the “ball-and-chain” jokes, and the advice about how tied down we’d be, and how we’d never be able to do our own thing again.  Yes, marriage takes work, but honestly it hasn’t been that hard.  We’ve had financial struggles and disagreements, and everything hasn’t always been a bed of roses.  Yet, for the most part, it’s been a wonderful blessing. 

We’ve come to realize that it’s all in how you view it.  We don’t make all these things huge issues, or view them as terribly difficult. To us, the tough things and the times that take worth are insignificant in comparison to the incredible blessing that marriage is.

That’s how we want to view this baby.  The Bible says that children are a blessing, and we want to see him as just that.  We expect the hard times and sleepless nights, but we don’t want to make a big deal about them.  Instead, we want to focus on the incredible blessing that this little baby is and will be.  We want to savor each smile, each little coo, each moment. 

Really, it’s all about your heart.  Without a heart that is soft and tender towards Baby B, we will never be able to love him in the way he should be loved.  We will never be able to care for him the way he needs.  Most importantly, we will never be able to fully embrace him as the blessing that he is. 

To be honest, a heart like that is not possible for us alone.  But God.  Only He can give us such a heart. 
And so we pray for this little one, that we would be able to take care of him.  But, most of all, we pray that God would give us a heart for our baby boy…and the love that He has for us.