We Are His Children

I've been a mom for four years now, and with the birth of my tiny, beautiful, completely helpless infant came a reality of new depth and amazing clarity concerning my relationship with the Lord, my Father. When Tyler was born, I suddenly understood how much I was loved. I saw, with brilliant wonder, the love my own earthly parents have for me and have shown me over and over and over through the years. I remember being so thankful for coming from an unconditionally loving family. But that's not the love that continues to stop me wide-eyed in my tracks. Only Love Himself can do that to me. And He does. He does it often these days. And for that, I can't begin to express my thanks. I simply give Him praise and hope that puts a smile on my Father's face.

This new understanding of love was really just the beginning. I'm consistently surprised, and pleasantly so, by all the ways God teaches me, and shapes me, and even disciplines me through my own kids. I have so many "important grown-up things" to do that I have a hard time getting around to the eternal ones. All too often I get so caught up in ME that I don't think about how God could use me to give Himself glory in the lives of others. I want the love! I want the glory! I want to guide the conversation! I have my own problems to solve! No, of course that's not what's really at the core of my heart. I belong to the Lord. If you could dissect my spiritual heart, you'd find Jesus. But I sure don't live every moment like that's the case.

Now I'm not saying my 4 yr old expresses selfless living in every moment of breath either (all you moms, give me an "AMEN!"), but God has really used him to remind me of what's important, to show me how to live. I just thought I was learning a lot from him in years past, but now it's a whole new ballgame. My child is a believer! He knows Jesus! Wow!! Having come to Christ as a teen, it just blows my mind that my preschooler can tell me about sin, salvation, and redemption. He may not use the bigger words, but he gets it! And a lot of times he gets it in ways that I fail to remember it. I pray his heart truly does belong to Jesus, cause I am living proof that once you're His there's absolutely no turning back. All I know for sure is that his foundation now is stronger than mine was when I accepted Christ as a teen.

Here's one tiny example of how God has communicated straight from Tyler's heart to my own...Ty's been invited for the first time ever to spend the night at a friend's house. He is sooooo excited!! It's ALL I've heard about since the idea came up a couple of weeks ago. Finally it's time, tomorrow night. He's completely excited about every little detail of this new adventure, but you'll never guess (or I wouldn't have anyway!) what he said tonight. Right in the middle of one of his "tomorrow night, tomorrow night, wooohoo" rambles, he said, "Hey, Mom, I'm going to tell Kevin about Jesus!" Wow! I know, he's 4, and he may not actually do it. It may not cross his mind again at all. But when he thought of all the great things he could share with his new friend, Jesus was one of them. (BTW, I do happen to know that Kevin has the opportunity of seeing the message of the cross lived out in his home on a daily basis, and I couldn't have hand picked a better place for Tyler's first sleepover!)

Those details aside, His message was clear to me tonight. We share so many things with our friends, but how often we put off sharing the most important thing! Or we make assumptions that they already know. Or we choose to associate with people that we're sure know so we don't even have to go there. God is making Himself known more and more in the life of my family, and I pray that just as He has grown the desire in us, He'll also grow our capacity to live in a way that reflects His glory and holiness. I pray we'll shine, and I pray we won't dim down His glory just because people we love don't want to see it. We are His children. I love to hear that my boys look like me. How it must please my Father when others look at me and see the resemblance!