Becoming Me by Matthew West

Matthew West Becoming Me from his project All In.

I visited with Matthew West recently at the Cove in Asheville, NC, which is at the Billy Graham Training Center, for a concert series called, “An Evening With”. For years I have been a fan of Matthew’s, so having the chance to talk with him was a dream come true.

I felt it only fitting that since Mother’s Day was just around the corner when we spoke, that I would ask him about his “Mom Song”, as he calls it. The song is, Becoming Me and it is off of his 2017 project called “All In”, which contained the songs, Beautiful Things We Miss, Mended, Mercy in a Song, and of course the title track, All In. He begins, “I wrote, Becoming Me, from the perspective of a kid verbalizing now what I couldn’t back then. I tried to think of things that my daughters may think about later and wish that they had said to their Mom now. I don’t know if that makes sense, but as a kid, there were so many things that my Mom and Dad said or did, that at the time I didn’t have the words to express or say to them what I was feeling. I tried to write the song in that sort of vein.

He continued, “I wrote it as a tribute to my Mom who has given so much of herself to me, who prayed for me, cared for me and encouraged me all through my life and then as well as a tribute to my wife, who I see pouring into our daughters, Lulu and Delaney daily and I’m just amazed.

Growing up, my mom was and is such a prayer warrior and so much of who she is and the life she lived in front of me has been woven into who I am today. Now as a father and husband today, I see my wife doing that very thing for our daughters. I’m a product of being raised by Godly parents who prayed and sowed into my life and now they are “reaping” the rewards by the life and example I live in front of them and my children so I want to pass those same values down to my kids.

He also shares that the song is meant to encourage and remind parents today, that all the loving you do on your kids is not going to be lost on them. It’s the seeds we plant in their lives today that will not return void, I’m certain of that and know the Lord will honor those seeds later in life, he says.

As Matthew finished up, he shared with us that he brought his oldest daughter in on the recording session to sing the last verse of the song. He said, “I brought her in, taught her the words and she just nailed it”. And as he spoke you could see the pride he has for his family, especially his wife and daughters.

I shared with him that for me, my favorite part of the song was the line that says, “I’ve never had to find out what it’s like to be alone and as far as I know ‘Mom’ is just another word for home”. That just sums up how I feel about mine. Mothers offer security, safety, encouragement, support, comfort, all the things that are familiar to us, all the things that draw us back home, especially her love. Nothing can replace a Mother’s Love.

Happy Mother’s Day