This Test Is Timed

For most, birthdays are about the happy-in-the-now and the giddy-of-ahead.
No rearview mirror to be found.
Except for when those birthdays belong to our kids.
Then my neck's a'cranin' to yesteryear.

I guess looking back makes the "right now" all the richer.
Lights the ahead in even brighter hues.
Because these little ones are it for me.
I'm a wife. A teacher. A friend. A leader. A sister. A daughter. And a follower of Christ in all six.
But a mother: now that's the role that has changed my world.
Perhaps it is the role that changes the world.

However you slice it, I look backward. To cherish the present. To appraise the future.
But a three foot package in the today makes me reconsider.

The tip of that hourglass to this day four years ago brings me to Judsen Ames. I love his story. I love him. Sounds obvious, no? It's still true, though. I really love him. More deeply every minute.  I mean, I grew him. GREW him!

And ahead I looked when first I held him, pondering what would make him laugh; who would make him cry; what dreams he'd dream and falls he'd fall. I guess I thought about how I'd keep growing him. Changing him.

But when I look behind, I see that it's him who's changing me.
From little...

 to bigger ...

 and biggest still...

He may be little, but he packs a powerful love punch.
On which I'm a little drunk.
Which I suppose makes him the better barometer of time.

Whether ahead or behind, now or then, birthdays are where they all collide,
   bound together by love for one little guy,
      standing the test of time.