Mom, I Love You, Except When...

Even though my oldest son (just turned five!) can be a challenge, he frequently comes up to me, gives me a hug, and says "I love you mom."  Lately, he has put a twist on this statement.  When he is not getting his way, he has started saying, "Mom, I love you, except when you don't do what I want..."

I always reply something to the effect of "Manny, I love you even when you give me your worst behavior."  As I make this reply, I can only hope that my imperfect capacity to love models God's love to my children.  As humans, it's easy to love when things are going our way.  It is much more difficult to love people who are unkind and give us a hard time.  The Bible says the following:

You have heard that the law of Moses says, "Love your neighbor and hate your enemy." But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and on the unjust, too. If you love only those who love you, what good is that? Even corrupt tax collectors do that much. If you are kind only to your friends, how are you different from anyone else? Even pagans do that. But you are to be perfect, even as your Father in heaven is perfect. (NLT, Matthew 5:43-48)

It's not surprising that Jesus makes these statements.  In fact, it is the reason he came to Earth! Despite all of our sin, our baggage, and our ugly behavior, God still loved us to the point of sending His son to pay the price for our sin.   He did this so that we can be reconciled with Him!  It is only when we tap into God's love, and allow it to flow through us, that we can love even when we don't feel like it! 

Lord, help me continually tap into your love as I seek to love my children unconditionally.

      

When we start thinking, "why me?," maybe we should really think, "why NOT me?"...

(Note:  I wrote this a while ago, but am just now posting!)

I just finished listening to the daily broadcast from Focus on the Family.  In fact, I regularly listen to the daily podcast as I tidy up my kitchen or cook dinner.  Today's speaker, Joan Brock, shared her incredible story about losing her eyesight, and then losing her husband to cancer.  When she first began to share her story, people would often say, "I bet you ask, 'why me?'"  Incredibly, she said that she never did ask that question.  Joan said, "Why NOT me?  I am no better than anyone else.  If I were to say 'why me?' that would be putting myself against God's will."

Joan also referred to "The Heidelberg Catechism" which asks, "What is your only comfort in life and in death?"  The response is as follows:  "That I, with body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own, but belong to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ, who with His precious blood has fully satisfied for all my sins, and redeemed me from all the power of the devil; and so preserves me that without the will of my Father in heaven not a hair can fall from my head; indeed, that all things must work together for my salvation. Wherefore, by His Holy Spirit, He also assures me of eternal life, and makes me heartily willing and ready from now on to live unto Him."

This idea of asking "why NOT me?" was convicting.  How many times have I thought, "why me?" as I compare my life to the lives of my friends.  When I face a challenge or difficulty, I am quick to pray for relief in my circumstance.  What if I just accepted the difficulty as God's will for my life, and began praying for God to use the experience to bring me closer to Him. 

My son recently brought home a parenting magazine from preschool.  I began to read an article about the importance of helping your child develop "grit." Apparently, research is showing that people who develop "grit," which is the ability to persevere through challenges, tend to do better in life.  This seems like a "no brainer" to me.  Even very intellegent people can be hindered by failing to use weaknesses and defeats as opportunities for growth.  If developing "grit" is so important, why do we shy away from developing "spiritual grit?"  Why don't we continually see our weaknesses and defeats as opportunities for God to do something great in and through our lives?  Instead, our daily prayers often ask God to fix our problems, keep us safe, and help us continue to live our comfortable lives.

Lord, use all things--the good and bad--to sanctify me as I daily seek to live for you.