What Makes a Man a Man?

Many years ago now I attended the first wedding of a cousin on my mom's side of the family, cousins we were always closer to growing up. I can't say I knew this cousin well, but something struck me during the ceremony: he was the same guy. No magical transformation was coming over him as he recited vows or joined himself to his wife. At the reception his smile was the same. The things that made him laugh hadn't changed.

I have a friend whose wedding I attended 4 and a half years ago. When I first met the groom, I didn't like him very much, but that was before he met his wife. God used her to balance him, to mellow him, I think. He didn't wait for the wedding to change. The impact was almost instant when he started bringing her around. Or it could all be my perception.

Today a couple I know had a baby, and I was looking at pictures of the daddy holding his firstborn, a little girl. Again, I don't know this man all that well, but it seemed in the pictures that his life was permanently changed today. The man smiling down at the bundle of dependence in his lap may have always been there, buried in words and decisions. But now he is there, on the surface, sincere. He can be nothing but himself with her, and will spend the rest of his days striving to ensure that "himself" is sufficient to be her father.

To God be all glory.