Before the Clock Strikes Midnight

My Wish for You…

In going to the wishing well and thinking about all the wishes I have wished for you, my treasures, one that comes to mind is the words of the song by Rascal Flats. I’m quite sure that my Princess Belle, you little sweetheart, will be singing, thrilled and tickled pink to know I’m referencing a country song that you happen to love, and the group as well. Don’t get too excited. It won’t happen often. Anyway, it’s a great song filled with much truth and wisdom. There are many pearls in this song by Rascal Flats. I wish that you would hear the words of this song and take them to heart. I wish that you would listen to these words and be guided by them as you travel your own journey in this life. I wish that you would try to live out these words as you continue on your path in this life. These are the things I wish for you.

In their song, Rascal Flats says that it is hoped that the days come easy and the moments pass slow. The thought in this wish is that in this life as you continue to travel your journey you will not find there to be many hard days filled with much difficulty, pain, and suffering. The part of this lyric is that time and the moments will go by slowly so that you may sock them in and not let them pass you by. The second wish found in these lyrics is the idea that whatever path you chose to take and travel, I want for my treasures to have it led you where you want to be and go in your life. A third wish to found in this song is the wish that when you are faced with choices (and you will be, that’s what life is, choices) that you choose what really matters to you and means the most to you in your life.

In finding your way may you, as the song says, never, ever give up, no matter what may come your way. If you find a closed door, because one thing ends or closes there will be another door to open and go through as you travel this journey. Never give up until you find the open door that is for you. Go through and keep traveling, carrying on, and seeking to find what awaits you. The last wish of the first verse talks about always showing this world your smile and the warmth of your spirit and heart. I say this is the idea of doing any and everything to the best of your abilities. In all things be kind and courageous.

The middle part of the song, the chorus, is having what you want out of life and that you be what you want and hope for. I want your lives to be what you desire and hope for, my treasures. I also want you to always chase, follow, and live your dreams. Never, ever give up on your dreams, and may the dreams you dream always be big. At the same time, as in the song, I wish you not to have many worries in your life or for you to be burdened with a load to carry that is more than you hold. If it ever is, may you lean on me and know who you can lean on.

The last part of the chorus is a wish for the most important thing in this life: love. I hope that you will find the perfect one for you to love and be loved by and to have travel with you on your journey in life, who sees what you seek. I wish for my treasures to have and know a love as I had with your daddy. I wish for you to have them with you as you are chasing your dreams, living your life, and traveling your journey.

As this song continues to the third verse, it has more pearls of wisdom that I wish for you and want you to draw from this wishing well. Even though in this life we are supposed to not look back and continue on forward, I wish for you not to forget your daddy’s love for you and my love for you. I wish you to never forget all who love you and that you have always been and will forever be loved. I want you not to forget where you came from in this life and where your journey began. Let these things carry you along your journey in life. A life filled with regret is not a life lived well, so as the song said, I wish you may live your life without regret and to forgive easily and often. May you also notice, find, and take the chances when presented and given to help others that you cross paths within your journey.

Some final wishes I wish for you take from the wishing well that is in this song is that you always find God’s grace in your life even in the mistakes you will make. Last but not least, may you, my treasures, always give more than you have been given and do so with a glad and cheerful heart. These are the wishes I tell you and hope you take from the well. In your journey may you always and forever know my love for you and that I will always and forever love you all my days with all my heart. I wish for you to stay true to yourself and your dreams. I wish you keep and follow your path as you journey in this life. I wish for you never to forget these things I wish for you. I wish for you to always take and carry these wishes with you as you continue to travel your journey, my treasures.

The Words I Would Say

In my own life’s journey, not only am I a great lover of music, I also have a playlist, or soundtrack, if you will, for my life. I relate, connect and associate music and song to the events in my life journey as I travel it. I call this my therapy music. I very well could at some point gift to you a playlist of mine, or that I want you to take with you as travel your journey in life, and hope you find your own playlists. Two of, if not the main two, influences or styles of music that I love are classic rock and contemporary Christian music, which both have been instrumental in my life. There is a great group, Sidewalk Prophets, who created a song entitled “The Words I Would Say.” Much of what is said is filled with truth and wisdom. What I would wish for you and say to you, my babies, as you start out on your own is in the lyrics of this song.

Throughout the rest of these pages and chapters in this book there is much that I will tell you and give you that I would hope you take with you on your journey as you travel in your lives. But at the end of the day, it’s as simple as these lyrics and all boils down to these simple truths and words in the song by Sidewalk Prophets. I want to impress upon you the truth and wisdom of these words, and I hope you carry them with you and take them with you always as you journey on in your life. In all things and all seasons of your life, may you be and follow the truth and wisdom of the lyrics in this song by Sidewalk Prophets.

“Be strong in the Lord and never give up hope.

You’re going to do great things, already know

God’s got His hand on you, shouldn’t live life in fear

forgive and forget but don’t forget why you’re here

Take your time and pray. Thank God for each day

His love will find a way. These are the words I would say.”

These are the truths that matter and will guide you in your journey ahead in your life. You must learn and define what it means to be strong in the word. Being strong in the Lord is knowing His word, drawing close to Him, praying and talking with Him, and following His word and ways all your days. Never giving up is defined as never losing sight of what is or losing your belief and faith and trusting what is and what will be. I already know that you, my babies, will do great things as you journey through this life because God created you, is faithful to complete what He started, and creates each of us with a purpose. I believe in you, and as always, if you focus on God and follow Him then you will do great things in your life.

Strive to walk in faith, not fear, even in the valleys of life and in the toughest of seasons when it is hard, because God is with you always and will never leave you and carries you along your journey in life. Always strive to forgive and let go and not hold on to those who have worked against you and meant you harm, for we have been forgiven much. Equally though, by the same token, remember always and never forget the reason and purpose for which you were created and why you are here in this life.

Pray in all things, in all seasons of life, and all along the journey you travel. May you always have a spirit and a heart that is filled with thankfulness and gratitude and may you always have so much gratitude. Remember there is always something to be thankful for even in the hardest of times and the darkest of days or seasons. Last, and arguably most important, although at times it may not seem like it’s possible at times, love always finds away. Take, learn, and hold dear these truths and words of wisdom and keep them in your heart so that you will have truth and wisdom to guide you all the along the path you follow on your journey through life.

May you come to know and understand these words of truth and wisdom. In your life, may you allow these words to guide you. May you come to live by these words and teachings. May you learn well the lessons that come from these words. In doing these things, you will never not know what to follow on your path. You will never not know how to follow your path and you will never lose your way as you travel your journey through your life. May you always find your place and way in your life.

The Tapestry of Your Life

As I have written this book and talked about the things I want you to know and take with you on your life’s journey that you travel, and the pearls of truth and wisdom that I have shared throughout these pages, there is something I would like to for you to consider and reflect upon for your own journey that you will travel in life. A tapestry is a beautiful woven piece of fabric that often depicts or illustrates something that often can be hung a wall. They are woven together out of beautiful thread to make gorgeous fabric. Oftentimes in our lives the lessons we learn, the knowledge we gain, the experiences we have, the paths we follow, all collectively create the journey we travel in our lives.

One way of looking at our own individual lives is that as we travel we are creating our own beautiful tapestry that symbolizes and represents our lives. This is what I want you to consider: what threads do you want to be threads that are woven into the fabrics that create your life’s tapestry when put together? Moreover, when your journey in life comes to an end and you reach your destination, what will your tapestry represent or symbolize about you and your life? Will it portray the picture you wanted to be portrayed, and display and express what you wanted to be the picture of your life?

As you travel on your own life’s journey, ask these questions. What lessons do I want to take and carry with me that will be woven into my life’s tapestry? What attributes will I want to be woven into my character that will be woven into my fabric of my tapestry? What choices will I make that will be woven into the very fibers of the fabric of my tapestry? What experiences will be woven into the tapestry of my life? What beliefs will I have, what lessons will I take with me, and what will I put my faith in? What pearls of wisdom and truth will I weave into my life to guide me as I travel my journey and form the tapestry of my life?

How will you let these things influence the pattern you weave the thread in to help shape and form the fabric that will create the tapestry that will be the picture of your life’s journey? What will your tapestry say about you, your life, and who you are as a human being? Who do you want to be and what you want or have said about your life? You get to choose what fibers you weave into the threads that will be woven into the fabrics that, when woven together, will create, shape, and form the picture that will be representative and symbolic through the tapestry of your life’s journey. These are questions worthy of giving much and profound consideration. Reflect on them and choose well, for what we choose makes, shapes, and forms our own tapestry in life.

At this point in my life, the fibers of my threads that are woven into the fabrics of my own life’s tapestry would be the threads of my life-long disability, ongoing years of social rejection, a shattered, broken first marriage ended in divorce, being a writer, being a mommy, being a widow by 38, and being a solo mom. How I’ve chosen to weave these fibers and threads, I hope, is to be a person who raises above, never quits, never gives up, never is kept down by life circumstances. I chose to weave the threads of always doing my best, working hard, never stopping, and giving it my all. I chose to weave the threads of hard work, dedication, determination, perseverance, and tenacity. I chose to weave the threads of empowerment, independence, strength, courage, bravery, and striving to thrive in all things into the fabric of my life’s tapestry. What threads will you choose to weave into your life’s tapestry?

In life, we don’t have a choice of some fibers and threads we are given, and other fibers and threads we choose. In both cases, we and we alone get to choose how we weave these threads into the fabrics of our tapestry and our lives. We get to choose how we use these threads. We get to choose how these threads impact and influence us and our lives. We get to choose by weaving these fibers and threads of what we want our lives to say about us despite whatever threads we have been given. No one can choose this for us. We alone can make the choice for us and our lives. What threads and fibers will you choose, and what choice will you make for how you weave the threads that will directly create, form, and shape the tapestry of your life?

This sixth truth I want you to understand. I want you to know the wisdom and truth of this, for it will shape your life, the path you will follow, the direction and journey you will travel in your life. I want for you, my babies, to know, never doubt or forget, and always take this with you as you follow your own path as you travel your journey in life. I want you to always be aware that with every passing day, every choice, every decision, you are constantly weaving the fabrics that will form, shape, and create the final outcome of the tapestry of your life. You are the sole weaver of your life and you get to weave into your tapestry what you choose.

If you didn’t choose it, you do, however, get to choose how and what you weave with the threads you were given in your life. The reality of this truth will always be true no matter where our individual and joint family path leads us, or where we travel in our collective family and individual journey in this life. This truth will never, ever change, no matter what. This I can promise and know to be true. May you choose and weave wisely and be the makers and weavers of your own fate or destiny as you travel to your chosen and created destination in your life. Choose to weave with beautiful threads and fibers that will create a beautiful life you want, and choose to live fully all your days.

You are My Precious Treasures

In this pearl, we come to the last and final lesson of wisdom and truth that I want to give you to take and carry with you along your journey in life. Equally as much as I have wanted you know the previous other six pearls of wisdom and truth, this also, I want to you to take with you and carry with you in your heart as you travel your journey through life. The final pearl I have to give you has to do with how I see you. It has to do with my feelings I have for you and about you, my babies. This pearl is about what you two mean to me and my love for you. These feelings I know beyond a shadow of a doubt will never, ever, ever, change, no matter what, and I never said different, that I promise you. My Princess Belle and my Prince James, you two are my most cherished, priceless, and most precious treasures in my life and world.

I will always and forever love you, no matter what, and that will never change. There is nothing that can happen or be done to change that. I will never leave, forsake, or abandon you, my babies. I will always and forever be on your side. I will always be here and journey alongside you. I will always fight for you, cheer you on, and support you. I will always do my best for you. I will always cherish beyond words the amazing gifts and blessings that I have and have been given by having you two in my life. You two are my whole world and life. You two meant the world to me and have my heart forever. I wouldn’t trade you two or being your mama for the world. You are my true joy and delight in my life and bring me all the happiness I have in my life.

I want you, my babies, to know, never doubt or forget, and always take this with you as you follow your path as you travel your journey in your life: that you are my most beloved and cherished treasures. This will always be true no matter where our individual and joint family path leads us as we travel our collective family and individual journey in this life. This truth will never, ever change, no matter what. This I can promise and know to be true. I love you two, my beloved treasures, with every breath I take, with every fiber in my being, with all my heart, and will all of my days forever.

Resources for the Journey Ahead for Our Babies and Us Parents

Resource for Parents nad their families:

1. The Bible

2. Read the Bible Plans

3. Wild at Heart by John Eldredge

Captivating by Stasi Eldredge

https://wildatheart.org/products

4. The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman

https://www.5lovelanguages.com/5-love-languages

5. Boundaries by Dr. Henry Cloud

https://www.drcloud.com

6. Focus on the Family-James Dobson

https://store.focusonthefamily.com

Publications:

Tree house Club Jr.

Tree House Club

Brio

Breakaway

7. Grace Parenting

https://gracebasedparenting.com

8. Max Lucado

Home

9. Jed Jurchenko

https://www.amazon.com/Jed- Jurchenko/e/B00OU2OTG0/ref=dp_byline_cont_pop_book_1

10. Stormie Omartian

https://www.stormieomartian.com

11. Strong and Kind by Korie Robertson

https://www.amazon.com/Korie- ‘ Robertson/e/B001K8D5ZS?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1594341669&sr=1-1

12. WalkThrutheBible

Home

13. YouTube Videos:

Positive Words of Affirmations for Kids

Michaela S. Cox

AUTHOR • SPEAKER

Before the Clock Strikes Midnight