This morning I woke up late, I woke up out of sorts and cross with myself that I'd overslept, even though I really needed the sleep. How am I ever going to get this balance right...
Firstly, you start out with babies, who can't do anything for themselves, you find yourself exhausted from having to look after multiple people's needs while running the practical necessities of home...
Then, you have young children who can't keep up and have to be kept up and cleaned up after etc and taught every little detail of life...
Next, it's onto bigger kids where teaching involves consequence and this is a whole other ball game, where you want to love and protect and give in, now you have to have rigid guidelines and everything seems black and white, but all the while life is big and bold and sometimes messy...
Teens are their own special creation, they're not sure if they're happy, ok, sad, or angry just yet and they are so busy being that, that when bed time comes, they've just figured out that life's not that bad and we'd really like to do what we're now happy doing, for the next 2 hours, but it's now bedtime... shame, you gotta love them at every stage... boy I love children... I actually think it's my downfall...
I'm serious, I feel so very deeply what they're feeling and experiencing... it's detrimental... cos while I'm supposed to be upholding the consequence, I'm thinking, oh boy if I were in their shoes at that age I would definitely be feeling, thinking, doing... and I put myself back to where they are and find the consequence at times impossible to give...
Is it good, no, there must be consequence, so for severe infringement, my kids know they're in for it... but for minor issues they come and tell me many things and I urge myself to hang back on the judgment, till I've had a chance to say, "where were you when this happened?", "How do you feel about this matter?", "what would you have done differently if you were in their shoes?" This has given me many unique perspectives into my children's lives.
What I would have done differently with my children, is given my eldest a little more leeway in decision making, not helicopter her... and spoken a lot less and had black and white details for my youngest... who's a black and white kinda person, where my eldest is not...
What on earth does this have to do with my blog and how could it relate to anyone else... well, firstly, I don't know if you knew this, but I write as I learn, so some of these revelations, I'm currently learning and growing in... I couldn't write them if I hadn't been learning them, but none of them have me at expert level, that's for sure!!
Secondly, I woke up irritated with myself, had a lot of morning routine stuff to get through and then, walking to my prayer chair... the Lord said read 2 Peter 3:5 "For this they willfully forget: that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of water and in the water,"
What... I could not read that as a stand alone verse, so I started at the beginning of the paragraph and read... well, surprise, surprise, a theme that's been running through the last few weeks, now that's not to say I'm saying the world's ending this week, no, it's not for me to know...
Back to the point, read 2 Peter 3, there are so many revelations there, I couldn't possibly unpack them all... let's say I am so impressed with the Lord, that He could take something that we use as a measure of stability, like as sure as the sun rises in the east and sets in the west... He makes the sun melt away like a sea... uh... that smashes my understanding of life and stability... He takes the waters of the sea as in Noah's day that didn't exist as a sea, and makes it flood the entire earth to then, from that day on, create a sea... and will make that same water to burn and be dissolved... it says here in 2 Peter 3, the elements will be dissolved, this is incredible, but this is what He will do to the elements... some say, "what's taking Him so long, if He's going to do it, let Him do it already!"
And just like that we have the correlation between my parenting deficit and the Lord's dealings with us... look at this fantastic verse 9 "The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward [c]us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance."
You see, can you see it, the Lord is also longsuffering with us! WOW! WHY? We don't deserve it... He's longsuffering because, verse 9 says, "HE IS NOT WILLING THAT ANY SHOULD PERISH BUT THAT ALL SHOULD COME TO REPENTANCE!" Isn't He incredible!
He is patiently waiting for each of us to believe, and then the fact that you weren't swept away to heaven the minute you believed, means you have a job to do... here it is in verse 11-12 "Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?" - why, if the Lord's coming and taking us away, why should we be worried about our conduct, you are the only Bible some people will ever see!
You are the only Bible some people will ever see! Think about this, some people may never read the Bible. Some people may never own a Bible in their homes, some people may never open a Bible anywhere... it's impossible for you and me to understand, I was practically born in church, my parents say I was 3 days old and my mom was playing the piano, so we were there, her and my family and I... Bible is who I am... now... what about those who don't know...
In the words of my son, when I read this to him, he said, "So, if we go out and tell everyone in the world about Jesus, the Lord will come sooner?" I said, "yes", he said, "Let's Go!" Which isn't just the statement of let's go, but it's a modern day expression, of let's get out there and do this thing, what's taking us so long!
I love it, and that concludes my write up, LET'S GO!
P.S.
It reminds me of the words of Jesus Matthew 16:24-26
"24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?"
Let's pick up our cross, follow Him and be the open book others can read and find Jesus for themselves... love to all!
