I had gone out to do a few errands. Unfortunately, I was rushing when I got ready and there was no room in my schedule for breakfast. I grabbed a granola bar and told myself I would eat when I returned home. I was very hungry after my first stop!
As I walked through the front door when I arrived home, the wonderful scent that greeted me was heavenly. I felt like I had walked into a restaurant and my hunger just grew. My son was preparing his lunch. I asked what he was making. He told me to come look and then the most beautiful words I had ever heard, at least for that moment, left his lips and reached more than my ears — it reached deep into my heart. He said “Mom, I thought of you and made some for you too.”
A moment like this speaks volumes and God reminds me that He is working even when I don’t see it.
Wow! It is in moments like these that I treasure God’s acts of tenderness, intimacy and confirmation. What my son did and what he said, spoke to more than God caring about me being hungry and extending grace and compassion to me. In this situation God had a message for me about something totally seemingly unrelated or something that I had been wrestling with in my heart. God used my physical hunger to speak to the hunger in my heart. I think God sometimes uses the element of surprise to truly make an impact in how we receive His truth and Word.
I had been questioning if my parenting was having any effect. Many times, I feel like what I am trying to develop and instill in my boys takes so much energy and my efforts are going nowhere fast. The disputes and complaining over chores or what being a contributing family member looks like, the way they treat each other or the way they treat us, makes me feel like a failure. I worry about whether I am raising boys that will grow into God fearing, respectable men. Then…
A moment like this speaks volumes and God reminds me that He is working even when I don’t see it.
I have a responsibility. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old he will not depart from it.” If I am doing what God has asked me to do with the gifts that he has loaned me, then I must trust His word that the seeds planted will take root. God’s message to me in that moment was that the seeds are growing. They are learning. God is growing them and developing them. My efforts are not wasted. Everything is in God’s time and they have time- nothing grows overnight.
It may be frustrating at times to keep at discipline but Proverbs 29:17 says “Discipline your son, and he will give you rest; he will give delight to your heart.” In that moment God reassured me that I had lots to delight in. He gave me a gentle nudge to look at the positives. My son did give me rest and did bring delight to my heart in that moment and many others! I needed to focus on those times and use them as my measure.
This kindness of my son, showed me that my lessons didn’t have to come from my mouth. I didn’t and don’t always have to talk about what I want to teach or what I want from them. As I model my life after Christ, and as I model what it looks like to serve and think of others, my lessons are watched and caught. As 1 Corinthians 11:1 says, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ”. I must believe that as I live out my relationship with Christ, they are seeing. As I lift Him up, He will draw them to himself and into who He created them to be.
This was a good lesson for me this day. I am doing something right. Most importantly God is doing all things right. He has his hand on my boys.
Today I had another reminder: they got up and shovelled the snow before they went to school. Thanks be to God!
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