SOS - Save Our Seed

For just fewer than 100 years “SOS” was used as a maritime description for a distress signal in Morse Code. While the letters are not technically an acronym for anything the letters became associated with such phrases as, “Save our ship” and “Save our souls.” It seems appropriate that the phrases have become familiar since according to the international standard, ships in distress were to utilize the Morse Code represented by “SOS.”

When Simone told me that we were going to have a baby, I was very happy. We had been married for more than nine years already and had finally decided the time was right for the both of us. True, we bloomed late, being in our late 30s, but thank God we did bloom. We both knew that it would be an awesome responsibility and that our lives would never be the same. So together we started praying for wisdom for every stage of pregnancy and beyond. We did not accept that we were “soon-to-be” parents, since studies in fetal development demonstrate that prenatal influence has inestimable impact. In our minds, we were already parents. We just could not hold the child outside the womb yet.

People often asked us whether we were going to find out the sex of the baby, and both of us were more than excited to tell them, “Yes!” We certainly had preferences, but ultimately we wanted a healthy child regardless of sex. The days and weeks passed as our hearts fluttered with great anticipation toward that critical 20+ weeks when the radiologist would be able to see the baby’s anatomy on the Prenatal Sonogram Machine. I had been telling Simone that I knew what it would be, without doubt, and she always cynically asked what it would be. In reality I bought two cards, one for each sex and wrote a passionate message about how happy I was and how that particular sex would benefit from having a mom like her. I hid the cards in two separate places in my vehicle so I could pull one or the other out after our radiology appointment proving that I knew the sex.

As we pulled into the parking area at the radiologist’s office, I caressed Simone’s belly, came close and said, “Please little baby, cooperate and show us yourself just this once, and I promise, I will never ask you to show it again.” We went in and at the appropriate time, I was called into the room and on shameless display were our little boy’s genitals. He had no shame, and with laughter I said, “Thank you son. You done good...” With emotion in her somewhat muted voice, Simone said, “We’re gonna have a boy.” It was at that critical moment that I melted into a puddle of years of emotion. It was not because I was a proud father who could beat my chest and say, “I AM HAVING A BOY.” No. I had already been praying that God would show mercy to us according to the commandments, because we love Him. We did not want any unnecessary moral weaknesses to be passed to our child genetically. When I found out it was a boy, the prayer became even more impactful to me. I had a poor example of a father (who died almost exactly one year before our son was born), and besides I had inherited and cultivated tendencies toward evil that I would hate to see passed to our son. The idea of this possibility was simply unbearable. But the story of Josiah in the Bible gave me hope. To make an long story short, Josiah’s dad was one of the most wicked kings Israel had ever experienced, yet God was able to inspire Josiah from an early age to be one of the most faithful.

With many responsible fathers around the world, I am signaling heaven with a universal distress call of SOS - “Save our seed!” No man in his right mind wants to see his child suffer for mistakes he has made. No self-respecting man would allow his child to just pass through life without making every effort to lead him in the right direction, come what may. Lord please save our seed! Please save our seed from all harm. Please save our seed from bad relationships. Please save our seed from thoughts of intolerance. Please save our seed from influences of evil people who seek to do us harm. Lord, please save or seed from anything that displeases you.

Are you curious about the greeting cards? Well, when we got back in the vehicle, I reached into the secret boy card spot and brandished it in all of its blue glory. Simone’s jaw dropped as she asked in gleeful disbelief, “How did you know?!” I played along for a while, but since I am an honest man, I told her of my scheme and revealed the pink card too. It was just another playful memory we can reflect upon in the future for a few laughs.