When You Have a Child

When you have a child

You learn it's a serious business

To have a little fun

You give grace and get forgiveness

Not seven times seven

But seven times seventy one

And when you have a child

Those four walls you call a house

Take on a life of its own

When you bring them home

You will cry and you will laugh

When they hurt it cuts you in half

It's your flesh and bone

And year after year

Pictures fill page after page

They never really grow up

Still your baby at any age

The first time you hold them

It's like you see God's smile

What a smile

When you have a child

And then boy meets girl

And perfume and gasoline

Reign on your perfect world

Curfews are often broken

Thank yous aren't spoken

He's got the keys to that old Dodge

And she's wearing a corsage

And her mama's pearls

And year after year

Pictures fill page after page

They never really grow up

Still your baby at any age

And the first time you hold them

It's like you feel God's smile

What a smile

When you have a child

You pray that phone call never comes

And if God forbid

How would you live

How could you go on

And on and on and on

And year after year

Close the chapter and turn the page

Blue ribbons and losing seasons

Flipping tassles on the stage

Oh but you don't need a photograph

You've got at least a million

Pictures of that smile

When you close your eyes

When you love a child

Ohh when you love a child