Thursday, March 17, 2011

Well, My Son.....

I often find my self comparing my kids. Sometimes at how much better they are than other kid's and sometimes at how much I wish they could be as good as other kids.
I know that is wrong, I'm not stupid. But, I think as parents we have these great expectations sometimes that even our kids can't meet and we lose sight of the important things when they fail at our measuring stick.

As I read in Luke Chapter 1 the other day, and marveled at the story of John and his coming about,   I thought , " Wow! How Cool!" 

How cool would it be to have an angel show up, when you are 'well in years'  & having a barren wife( verse7)
and tell you, basically, You're Kids gonna be the best kid on the block!

I know when I was pregnant an angel never appeared to me saying all the great things that good ol' Gabe told Old Man, Zacky. No one promised me a 'child that would bring joy & delight' (vs.14) and that ' MANY ( not a few family & friends....but MANY!) 'Would rejoice over his birth', and that he would be 'Great in the sight of the Lord'. The kicker for me was, ' He will never take wine or fermented drink.'(vs.15) Well, that little bit of info would save alot of parents ALOT of worrying throughout the teenage years! Man, if at least 1 in 10 babies came with that extra PLUS, how great would that be?! 

The Chapter goes on to say He will be filed with the Holy Spirit even from birth! And he will turn many hearts of the people of Israel back to the Lord, and he will go before the Lord to change hearts!

Wow...If I was Sweet old Elizabeth, I would have kicked up my heals and maybe not have cared so much if I was going to badly screw up my kid, well, because he came with a PROMISE!

The part that got me was when Zechariah questioned Gabriel, " How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years." ( vs. 18)

First off, lets break this down:
A: Way to go, Zack, for NOT saying your wife was an OLD lady, but taking the gentle route 'well in years' and not re hashing the whole 'barren' thing,which we know she felt was a disgrace (vs.25)
B: You can never judge someone for not having kids, or only a few. It may not be a 'selfish' decision, it may be the path God has allowed in their life, for whatever reason.
C: Gabriel didn't like that Zacky boy doubted what he was telling him and caused Zechariah to be mute          ( without speech) until Johns birth, because AN ANGEL OF THE LORD APPEARED TO YOU - SENT FROM GOD - WITH THIS GOOD NEWS - AND YOU STILL QUESTION IF I'M LEGIT? Boy- that was some stupid stuff comin' outta your mouth - shut up for, let's say...9 months!(vs.19-20)
D: I'm Zack....

You see, the thing is, our kids are a joy & delight. God can use them in amazing ways we can't even imagine, he can use them to bring many to his saving grace and love and yet we still question, " Are you for real God? You can't possibly use my lil' Junior who wets the bed every night and still sucks his thumb and is missing his front tooth....really Lord? Maybe you should check the neighbors kid's, they are really good Christians and I'm pretty sure their little Sally got baptized last month..."

Oh, be amazed Parent's...for God can & will use our children, despite our downfall's and in spite of how much we love them and believe in them and teach them about our loving master...


Thankfully, God hasn't seen fit to press the 'MUTE' button on my yapper for all the doubting I do. So, let the words of my mouth be pleasing to you, O' Lord. Let the Love for my children believe all things and hope all things, because with You, all things ( not some or just a few) are possible.


Now, go hug your kid and tell them, In Christ Alone, they can be world changers :)



3 comments:

  1. love it, thank you for that reminder. Love the new blog look. very you.

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  2. Awesome stuff, Shay!! I had MANY fave lines in this blog, among them were "way to go Zach for not saying..." (super funny) and also the "that would have saved a lot of worrying during the teenager years" about wine/beer drinking. What a FRESH perspective on parenting and on this Bible story, which I will never see the same and that's a good thing! Weehooo!

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  3. You are one funny girl. Great post.

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