Parenting

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be
called the children of God. 1 John 3:1


The other day while speaking to God in prayer, I said, “Sometimes my children just make me crazy! What am I going to do with them?” There were two reasons for me to be feeling that way. One was a silly aggravation, one of those things that happens repeatedly, which is what makes it irritating but for the most part is not a big deal at all. The other was much more serious, sad and trying on my heart.
As I spoke the words I could almost feel my Abba smiling at me. “Your children?” He might ask. “What about mine? Have you looked around lately?” When that thought, that possible response, crossed my mind, I did stop and think. Believers or not, every created being is God's child. Whether we choose to claim Him as Father is up to us but no one, no matter how they might try, can deny the fact that anything created comes from the Creator.

So there I was with an image of the world as it is in my mind. An image that included things like cruelty, arrogance, denial and disrespect for human life. That last one really stopped me as the levels of that go on and on. As a parent if I saw my children behaving in the ways I see around me I would be devastated. I pictured my own children then. They have all made mistakes that I know of, some that have been hinted at or alluded to and some that I will, thankfully, never know. Then I realized that God does not have that comfortable ignorance. He knows about every act of abuse, every abortion, every murder of other kinds, every episode of words being used to belittle or betray. He knows before they take place of every act of terror, global or familial. He knows who will and who will not repent. He knows which person gets caught up in a moment and which one makes a life out of destroying the people unfortunate enough to cross their path.

I thought about my question again. What am I going to do with my children? In the one case, laugh and accept the personality quirk. In the other, cry and then leave it to my Father. In all four (or eight counting in-love children) cases, I'm going to pray, for their well being, that they would always in all ways seek God and thanksgiving that no matter what happens today or going forward, God chose me for them and them for me.

Further, I will go forward with a tiny bit more understanding of my Abba and the way that He loves us all. We let Him down. We ignore Him. Some even curse Him but His love continues. And I will praise and thank Him for not giving up on me or on you or on the person I see as irredeemable.

He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. James 1:18

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