Watercolour Ponies

A few days ago Paul was in a nostalgic mood, so he shut the tv down and put in a couple of old cassette tapes....one by Wayne Watson, and then immediately afterwards, another one by David Meece.

One of our teenagers, who shall remain nameless, walked through the room and said, "Who is THAT?!?! He sure sounds weird!" When Paul proudly proclaimed the musician as being a very popular Contemporary Christian artist during our early marriage, our resident connoisseur of "fine music" just sniffed and said in a very condescending, superior tone, "Never heard of 'em", and walked out of the room. The little snot! LOL

I would never add fuel to my teenagers' fire by agreeing with them in their hearing, but even to my ears, those two "oldtimers" from our generation of Contemporary Christian music did sound.....well......OLD! LOL But the message of one song was still just as bittersweet as it was 18 years ago......

~Watercolour Ponies~

by Wayne Watson, c. 1987

There are watercolour ponies
On my refrigerater door
And the shape of something
I don't really recognize
Drawn by careful little fingers
And put proudly on display
A reminder to us all
Of how time flies

Seems an endless mound of laundry
And a stairway laced with toys
Gives a blow by blow
Reminder of the war
That we fight for their well-being
For their greater understanding
To impart a holy reverance
For the Lord

But, baby, what will we do
When it comes back to me and you?
They look a little less
Like little boys every day
Oh, the pleasure of watching
The children growing
Is mixed with a bitter cup
Of knowing the watercolour ponies
Will one day ride away

And the vision can get so narrow
As you view through your tiny world
And little victories can go by
With no applause
But in the greater evaluation
As they fly from your nest of love
May they mount up with wings
As eagles for His cause

Still I wonder, baby, what will we do

When it comes back to me and you?

They look a little less

Like little boys every day

Oh, the pleasure of watching

The children growing

Is mixed with a bitter cup

Of knowing the watercolour ponies

Will one day -- one day

Ride away

After Jared was born, if we'd hear "Watercolor Ponies" on the car radio, Paul and I would both brush tears from our eyes, thinking of how quickly our sweet little baby would be riding away from us, and wishing we could capture those precious moments in time and keep him with us forever.

And now, here we are nearly 20 years later, preparing to send our firstborn child, our baby, out into the world. How can this be? Didn't we just proudly announce his birth to our family and friends? Didn't we just watch him take his first step? Did he just leave for his first day of Kindergarten? Didn't he just hit his first home run in Little League? When did he suddenly become a man?

Our time with Jared is quickly drawing to a close, but even as we drink from this bitter cup, we are so very grateful that he has learned the one lesson we were asked to impart....to have a holy reverence for the Lord. And now Paul and I can be given no greater honor than to proudly stand watch as Jared prepares to mount up with wings as eagles for His cause.