God does good things when I show up. This morning I was the last of my family to roll out of bed. That’s never a good start. So after getting my husband off to work and our initial chores done, my kids settled into playing while I took a cappuccino back to my room for morning prayer. It wasn’t magical. And I kind of dreaded coming out. I didn’t even have a good plan for the day. But my prayer time focused on leadership and my primary context is within my own family. So out I went.
When we finally sat down to eat, there was a part of me that was tempted to skip the various elements of our breakfast routine, which often include a hymn, some Scripture memory, and a Bible story. Sometimes I just get tired of being the one to initiate it all. But I didn’t skip it. I’m the leader. So I opened the hymnal.
I hadn’t even been sure about this month’s hymn, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name. The text is very theological and my kids have only recently turned 3 and 5. But it’s actually been pretty wonderful, providing me space to worship our Holy God, while stirring up questions that my kids otherwise wouldn’t have thought to ask. For example, yesterday one of them asked about “cherubim and seraphim,” which took us to Isaiah 6’s description of God’s throne. It was pretty awesome.
So today Adam wondered, “Mom, how can God know what we are doing and thinking all the time?” And only then did God set fire to my tired heart and bring clarity to my chaotic mind. After a fun vocabulary lesson on omniscience, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omnibenevolence, one thing led to the next and we were talking about Christ’s lordship in human hearts. Based on things we’d already discussed in the hymn (“All on earth Thy scepter claim, All in heaven above adore Thee: Infinite Thy vast domain, Everlasting is Thy reign”) I explained that there is only one realm in the whole world where God’s Spirit does not ultimately reign unless invited. When I asked them where they thought that might be, my oldest actually guessed that I was talking about our hearts! Even my little kids seemed to understand that love, by definition, must be freely offered, and for that reason God created us with the ability to reject God’s love and authority.
That led into the next element. We’re very slowly going through Clay Clarkson’s Our 24 Family Ways, and this week we’re learning Way #6: We serve one another, humbly thinking of the needs of others first, with the associated verse, “Even the Son of Man did not come to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45). And so I transitioned, “even though God was all-powerful, Jesus chose to be born as a tiny baby. And did he choose to come so that everyone who lived on earth at that time would praise and serve him?” to which Adam very thoughtfully responded, “No, he came to die.” And then we talked about the curse of sin, the brokenness of this world, and the definition of ransom. It was so rich.
And then my kids started fighting because one of them took the last of the blueberries.
It was all unexpected, truly a morning of just showing up. So often when I choose to offer my fish and loaves, Jesus takes them into his hands, multiplies them, and then gives the abundance back to me so that I may experience the joy of being his hands and feet, extending his truth and love to my children.
I don’t share this because it is extraordinary, but rather because writing helps me give appropriate weight to the things that matter. Occasionally I am asked why I have not posted more regularly. One of the main reasons is that our days feel so very sacred and yet completely ordinary all at the same time. But today I’m writing it down, lest I forget these conversations that are being woven together to create the tapestry of our lives.
Thanks be to God!
