Thursday, December 15, 2011

He is the God Who Sees (Part Two)

Mom tears.
They flow for so many reasons.
When our children are little, we agonize over sleep, health, motor skills, intellectual development, growth charts, safety, nutrition, and social development.
We try not to compare, but we find ourselves asking,
Is this a normal child?
Am I normal mom?
What is normal, anyway?

Normal.
It's what we want for our children.
We want them to be just right.
And we lie awake at night worrying...
Too big? Too small?
Too social? Too quiet?
Too cautious? Too daring?
Too smart? Too slow?
Too passive? Too aggressive?

Moms of little children have such a difficult season to navigate.
We run on little sleep, little food, little experience.
We get advice where we are not looking for it
Or silence where we are.

And any time something seems to be 'not right,'
We are taken over with worry that our just right world
May not be just right, after all.
Most of our worries end up being unfounded.
But not all the time.

Mother of little children,
He is the God who sees.
He has not blinked.
He has not made a mistake.
He knows how the story ends.
He is sovereign and good.
He sees me.
He sees my children.

Days and nights...
Moons and months...

And I am the mother of growing children.
I worry less about their height
and more about their stature.
Less about their nutrition
More about their worldview.
Less about their social skills
and more about their relationships.

The things that keep me up at night are the words they say that bubble up from hearts that are wrestling with adulthood
or wrestling with God.
What are they reading, watching, and feeding to their spirits?
And do they like it?
Who are they spending time with?
And are they worth it?

Will they marry the right kind of person?
Will they use their talents for God...or bury them?
Will they not forsake the fellowship of the brethren?
Will they follow hard after God
And love Him with all their hearts, all their minds, all their souls, all their strength?
When we remove the scaffolding of house rules, will this building that is my child stand because it is built on the Sure Foundation?
Or will it collapse because it's built on sand?

Moms of growing children,
He is still the God who sees.
He knows I love my children.
He loves them more.
He knows I want what is best for them.
He wants what is best for Him.

He sees their struggles
and growing pains.
He sees them wrestle with life
and wrestle with the Truth.

We see obstacles on their journey,
Obstacles that distract them...
or divert them...
or defeat them...
And our hearts start to pound.
But He sees obstacles as momentary, sanctifying afflictions.
My children are on God's calendar,
Not mine.
And everything is right on schedule.

And moms worry about ourselves.
Am I a good mom?
What kind of example am I setting?
What am I teaching them?
Forget about reading and writing.
What am I teaching them with the way I spend my time
or who I spend it with?
What am I teaching them about character or integrity or longsuffering?
What am I teaching them when I submit myself to the Word?
or don't?

And, most of all, we can find ourselves worrying about their eternity.
But as surely as God alone raised dead men to life, He raises my children, who are dead in their sin, to eternal life through Jesus' work on the Cross.
And when I remember that,
When I preach the Gospel to myself and remember Who is in charge of that Gospel and responsible for that Gospel, I remember that He is El Roi...
The God Who Sees...

and I rest.

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