A Time for Dreams

Hello friends,

When my husband and I were first getting to know one another, we discovered that we were delightfully different in many ways. It's true that we had all the important qualities in common: loyalty, faithfulness, commitment, and the welfare of our children; but, in many ways we were exact opposites. In music, he liked rock-and-roll. I, on the other hand, had hated rock and roll since I was twelve years old. I did, however, love disco. Okay, that dates me, but I loved it. Ah, the Bee-Gees and ABBA, who can forget them? So, we agreed to happily disagree, and he listened to my music, as I suffered through his.

Where we were attractively alike was in sharing a unique sense of privacy and respect, a passionate love for one another, and we shared our dreams: a better life with each other and an unquenchable desire that our children would have a life that Louie and I had only dreamed of. What we have discovered, in our nearly 28 years together, is that dreams change, but sharing one another's dreams and aspirations never has.

After we were married, with a brief stroke of the pen, Louie became the father of my children, and a better father has never walked the earth. He is tough, when tough-love is needed. He is inspiring and accepting in a way that I had never known. Louie has given each of our girls a safe pasture of unconditional love. He is a wonderful example to our girls, and he has filled in the blanks, where my abilities could not go.

As a result, we have a future engineer, who will be graduating this spring. I could not have led her down that path. Where technology is concerned, I'm still in the pop-up toaster age; yet, somehow I gave birth to an engineer. How wonderful that she has a father who can guide her in her chosen profession. She is also a gifted writer, which certainly warms this mother's writer heart.

Our other daughter is a digital media specialist, who will also graduate in the spring. How she creates in that digital world is beyond my comprehension, since it was not long ago that I swore that the computer was the anti-Christ. This young woman is also a gifted photographer, who creates poetry every time she snaps a picture.

So you see, the differences between Louie and me, have come together to form a whole, and we see the evidence, in the lives and successes of our children. Both of our daughters also have a great love of God, as they live up to His teachings in the Bible. We still share the same dreams for our children, that they will celebrate their lives where God comes first. We pray for their protection in this dangerous world in which we live. We hope for opportunity to bless their lives, so that when God calls us home, we can leave this world knowing that they can take care of themselves and one another.

Louie and I have grown closer in our musical taste through the years. We both love Country Gospel. He still loves his music a little louder than I, but we both love the Word of God and worship music. We are devoted to our daughters, and to one another. Our daughters are devoted to one another and to us. I live, finally, in a blessed life, where differences are cause for celebration.

As I have said before, I don't know why God has blessed us so. I only know that He has. So, what do I owe Him? Everything. He has brought me through every valley within my life. He has carried me across raging torrents, and He has never left me alone, no matter how far astray, I have gone. God has fulfilled our dreams, especially, the dreams that we never knew we had. To say that God is good, is a true understatement. How anyone can be happy without Him, I cannot imagine. For a life without grace is impossible for me.

God bless you, my friends. May He fill your lives with joy, and may He fulfill the expectations that you have not yet begun to dream. And may He fill your life with balance. You see, I understand now, that two halves of the same coin need not be identical in order to make a whole.

With love,
Jaye Lewis
www.entertainingangels.org