Dear Zach,

You are a beautiful, precious boy. I am constantly stopped by strangers, asking me if that is your natural hair color. Your porcelain skin and red and brown flecked eyes. Your fingernails grow at the speed of light and you already have some thick blond hair growing on your legs and the back of your tiny neck. Skinny as a rail, you ask me for snack all day long. Eating breakfast at 7:30am…you are ready for lunch by 7:45am. I imagine you to be my tall skinny as a rail 16 year old who we must take out a second mortgage just to keep you full. That coupled with all the tall hungry friends you will bring over will surely cause Mom & Dad to go bankrupt, or just force Mom to live in the kitchen. I will need to teach you how to be a good cook. Yes…you will surely need to know how to prepare meals for yourself when you are grown and moved away, or else you’ll always be at Mom’s house (don’t worry…no matter how old you are I’ll make sure to keep Doritos and Cheezits stocked for you!)

The call of God on your life makes my heart stop and I must remind myself to breathe. It is overwhelming, knowing that if you stay on the right path, seeking His will for your life…I can’t even comprehend it…I don’t even have words to describe it. The power you will possess, you will need to learn to use it correctly. Like the Spiderman character that you constantly imitate, you must use your unique gifts for good and not for evil. I have visions of you sharing the amazing love welcomed in your heart…and thousands of people following. They want what you have.

I worry about you. You are only four years old and your Mama intercedes for your little life. I plead for the good to rise up and have victory. Oh son! Beware of the fort of your heart!!

Those forts that we are always making in the living room, a house within a house. Beware you don’t create a fort within the confines of your heart…only allowing a precious few to come in, a fort that guards the small living space you have created. Guard your heart with all diligence…but tear down the walls that threaten to keep you from the Call of God that would take your life by storm.

Your Mama loves you…and will always cry deep tears of prayer over you…and will always keep a stocked fridge for you.