Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

Megan Breedlove

Surpassing Grace

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Most of the time, I think I tend to be a pretty patient mom. Even the kids will tell you that I’m usually patient. (“Yeah, you’re just crabby sometimes.”) Sometimes, being patient isn’t very hard. Other times—like when I’m tired or annoyed, or when I’ve had a long day—my patience wears thin. I can still vividly remember an incident when I was mad about something else, and poor Ellie (then about two years old) came up to me, trying to get my attention. “What!?” I snapped, totally out of line. Ellie burst into tears.

I immediately dropped to my knees and hugged her, apologizing more than once. “Mommy’s so sorry, Ellie,” I said. “You didn’t do anything wrong. I shouldn’t have yelled at you. Will you forgive me?” She clung to me and said she would forgive me, but it took me much longer to forgive myself.

I had been completely ungracious and unloving in my response, and I felt terrible.

We’ve all been there. We’ve all yelled, or been impatient, or done something else that was uncalled for and hurt our precious child’s feelings, despite the fact that we love our children deeply and forever. Somehow, instead of offering grace, we’ve all delivered unkindness, whether our behavior is the exception to the rule or is, tragically, the rule.

I’m sure glad God offers me more grace than I sometimes offer my kids. When I think about what my life would be like if He only showed me the same measure of grace I show my children, I shudder. I don’t want His unkindness to be unpredictable or capricious—which it isn’t, because He’s never unkind. I desperately need His grace to be constant and overflowing, no matter what I do—which it is.

Even though I want to offer my children this kind of grace, I’ll probably never reach that goal this side of heaven. But I’ve learned that instead of berating myself when I mess up, or, worse yet, making excuses for my sin, I should use the occasions of my failure as reminders of God’s incredible grace to me. Yes, I absolutely should confess my sins against my children both to them and to God, and I should make every effort, under the Holy Spirit’s direction, to repent of my sins and treat my kids differently. But I should also take it a bit farther and allow my failures to turn me in humble gratitude toward the One Who never fails, despite the fact that I’ve sinned against Him far more than my children have sinned against me.

Will you do that with me? This week, when we treat our kids wrongly, let’s not only make it right, let’s thank God for being perfect in grace and abounding in mercy. Let’s ask Him to change our hearts to make us like Him in this way. And then, let’s go hug those precious children and pour out our love on them instead of our anger. After all, that’s how our Father treats us.

Matthew 18:32-33—“I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?”

Cleaning Up

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It’s amazing how quickly the house can get messy. Sometimes, I have it clean, but then I blink, and when I look again, the kids’ toys are scattered out all over the place. So I decided a long time ago to make the kids responsible for cleaning up their own messes. Each child has to clean up his or her own stuff throughout the house, as well as help Mommy when necessary.

One day, when I saw that the floor in Kenny’s room was covered with his favorite toys, I told him to go clean his room. “Yes, ma’am,” he said, and went in to start cleaning. That’s nothing new. He is almost always quick to obey when I ask him to clean. But this time, his response turned out to have been even more extraordinary than consistent obedience.

A couple minutes later, I went to check on him and found him cleaning up his toys. He had obviously been working since I told him to begin, but there was still a lot left to do. “Kenny, who was in here playing with you?” I asked, intending to have that child help him.

Kenny paused a second, considering the question. “Nobody was playing with me, because I wasn’t playing,” he said. Then he added willingly, “But I’ll clean it up.”

Wow. What an awesome attitude. Even though he had had no part in the mess, he willingly went to clean up when I told him to. He could have protested that he hadn’t been the one to make the mess and therefore shouldn’t have to clean it up, but he didn’t. He simply went and did as he was told, and with a good attitude.

I guess I need to take a lesson from my son. Sometimes, when I’m told to do something, I protest. I’m not the one who did the wrong thing. Why should I have to be the one to deal with the mess that other person left behind?

But Jesus would have far more of a legitimate complaint than you or I would. After all, we’re the ones who messed up our lives by sinning. Yet He came to earth, lived, and then died on a cross for us so He could help us clean up our mess. He wasn’t the One Who made the mess; in fact, He never sinned in even the smallest degree. Yet the perfect righteousness of His perfect life now stands in place of our filthy rags, so that when God looks at us, He doesn’t see a mess. Instead, He sees us as spotlessly clean.

Most of us try to teach our kids that everyone in a family needs to pitch in a little extra to make the family run smoothly. But Jesus pitched in more than a little extra. He gave everything.

So the next time He asks us to help someone clean up his or her mess—whether that means forgiving an offense, providing instruction, or showing compassion—let’s do it with the right attitude. It’s not my mess, but I’ll gladly help clean it up. After all, You cleaned up everything for me.

Psalm 51:7—Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

Forever Kisses

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I’ve written before about how Lindsey loves to come give me a “nighttime kiss and nighttime hug” each night. She is so dedicated to showing me love like this that even on a recent overnight visit to her grandparents’ house, she called the first evening so she could say “nighttime kiss and nighttime hug” over the phone.

But one day not too long ago, this routine became even sweeter. “I’ll give you another kiss,” Lindsey said, and kissed my shoulder. “Now it’ll be there whenever you need it,” she said. “A forever kiss!” I responded, and hugged her tightly.

She gave me a few more forever kisses that night—one or two on each shoulder, I think. Then, I gave her one. I told her that any time she needed a kiss from Mommy, she had one right there on her shoulder.

Forever kisses. They’re one of the most precious ideas any of my children has ever come up with. And even if someday, Lindsey forgets she ever gave me forever kisses, I won’t. I’ll remember they’re right there on my shoulders.

But Lindsey isn’t the only one who’s given me forever kisses. You have some, too. They’re from our Father.

You see, God loves us even more than Lindsey can love me with all the overflowing love in her precious, four-year-old heart. And just like Lindsey, God wants us always to know we’re loved. So He’s given us forever kisses, so that any time we need them, we can remember His love for us.

What are some of God’s forever kisses? The Bible, for starters. It’s not merely an instruction manual, though it certainly is that. It’s also God’s forever kiss to us, one of His ways of reminding us of His love. All through it is the story of how God redeemed us, though we didn’t deserve it. It’s the story of how He sent His Son to take the penalty for our sins so we didn’t have to. It’s a love letter.

The Holy Spirit is another of God’s forever kisses. We know that one reason the Spirit resides in our hearts is to convict us of sin. But do we ever stop and think that another reason the Spirit lives within us is to remind us of God’s love for us? He is a constant “forever kiss”, because He’s constantly with us.

What about our families? Our husband? Our children? Forever kisses. Our friends? Our church families? Yep. Forever kisses.

God doesn’t place things in our lives for merely utilitarian purposes. No, each blessing He grants us is a constant reminder of His love. And even if some of the blessings don’t last for eternity, but fade into the past, we can be sure that others will take their place. That certainty is in itself a forever kiss.

How many forever kisses from God can you spot in your life right now? Look around. I bet there are more than you can count. Let’s try something this week. Let’s make it a point to notice at least one forever kiss from God each day. He’s given us far more than that; surely we can notice at least one. And I bet that as we start noticing one, we’ll begin to notice more and more, until we recognize far too many to number.

Jeremiah 31:3—“I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness.”

Off the Deep End

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I remember the city pool I used to frequent when I was a kid. I loved that pool, and I spent many hours there every summer. One of my favorite things to do was jump off the high dive. That diving board was at least a hundred feet up in the air. You had to gather your courage just to climb the ladder and walk out to the end of the diving board. Then, you had to muster up some serious courage in order to take the leap off the end of the board, into the water that waited for you a mile below.

Even though I was a good swimmer, and even though I’d gone off that board a million times, I still felt that shiver of fear when I got ready to jump. So I can understand why my kids, who are still learning to swim, are afraid of jumping off the side of the pool and into their swim instructor’s waiting arms. It’s scary. Sure, the teacher says she’ll catch you, but will she really? Or might you somehow go under water? Like all the way, with even your head under?

As I watched my children’s instructor trying to coax them to jump to her in the water, I thought about how much we moms are sometimes like my children. We fear entering something that might be dangerous. So we stand there, arms outstretched, bouncing a little, but afraid to get our whole body into the jump and leap forward, because we’re afraid we’ll go under. We’re afraid He won’t really be there when we hit the water’s surface. After all, bad things happen sometimes in life, right? Even to good people. So how do we know we can trust God to be there for us when we really need Him?

Or perhaps we’ve been pushed off the edge of the pool by someone’s death or by tragedy, and we’re desperately hoping Someone will be there to catch us and help us keep our head above water. Will God meet us? Or will we drown?

Those are honest, heart-wrenching questions, and they deserve an honest answer. The answer is this: yes, sometimes bad things happen to us. Sometimes, when we leap into the pool, we do go under. But it’s not because God is simply standing by, arms crossed, not even trying to catch us. If that’s what we think, we’re badly mistaken. No, when we jump into the pool, God is standing there with His arms reaching for us, ready to catch us as we begin to fall. And if we go under, He goes under with us, holding us tightly in His arms.

God didn’t promise that we’ll never have trouble, but He did promise to go through everything with us. He also promised that our trials won’t overwhelm us. Yes, sometimes they seem overwhelming, and relief takes forever in coming. Sometimes, it doesn’t come until heaven. But it will come. We’ll shake the water droplets from our hair and wipe them from our eyes, and we’ll realize we’ve made it. God has safely brought us through one more time. And then, I imagine we’ll do what my children always do when I catch them when they jump—we’ll cling tightly to the One who saved us and rest our head on His shoulder. He’ll set us back on dry land, and going under will have become only a memory—a memory, and a testimony to the grace of God in bringing us through.

Isaiah 43:2—When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walkthrough the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze.

John 16:33—I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Never Sleeps

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It was the time of night that all moms look forward to, when the kids are in bed and the house is quiet. The other night, my husband and I had gotten the kids to bed a few minutes before. We’d had just enough time to sigh and begin to relax when we heard Jessica calling, “Lindsey! Lindsey!”

As my husband later related it to me, he went into the girls’ room to see what the matter was. “Lindsey’s not listening to me,” Jessica said.

My husband looked up into Lindsey’s top bunk, where Lindsey lay amidst all her stuffed animals and blankets. She was sacked out. “Jessica, she’s asleep,” Phil said.

“But she’s not listening to me!” Jessica insisted.

“Lindsey can’t hear you,” Phil repeated. “She’s asleep.”

“Oh. Okay,” Jessica said agreeably as what Daddy was saying finally clicked. “Lindsey’s tired.”

Phil settled her back down in bed, covered her up, and left the room. He came and told me about their conversation, and we both had a good laugh. Lindsey hadn’t been ignoring Jessica at all. She’d been asleep.

In fact, that was what Elijah suggested was going on when the prophets of Baal couldn’t elicit the desired response from their god on Mount Carmel. “Oh, Baal, answer us!” they begged.

“Hey,” Elijah said (I’m paraphrasing here), “maybe he’s busy. Or maybe he’s on a business trip. No, wait! I’ve got it. Maybe he’s asleep!”

Obviously, their god wasn’t asleep, because he was no god at all. He wasn’t real. But when it came time for Elijah’s God to respond, God sent fire from heaven to consume the sacrifices, the altar, and even the water around it. He wasn’t asleep. He was listening to what was going on the whole time.

Aren’t you glad God never sleeps? He never gets tired and has to check out of humanity’s concerns for a little siesta. He’s always listening to the prayers of His beloved children and watching what goes on with us. Unlike Jessica, we’ll never cry out for His attention, only to find out later that He didn’t hear us because He was sleeping.

There may be times when we cry out repeatedly, and it seems like God doesn’t respond. But it’s not because He’s sleeping. He’s not unaware of what goes on in our lives, and He’s not unconcerned. Just because we don’t get the response we want, when we want it, doesn’t mean He’s oblivious.

Over and over in the Bible, we’re told that God always watches over us and never grows weary. To me, that’s amazing. I try to be a vigilant mom, paying careful attention to my children and taking good care of them, but I can’t even approach God’s level of watchful care—especially considering that I need sleep, and He doesn’t.

He’s always awake and always attentive. He’s always concerned about everything we do, and everything that happens to us. Even while we sleep, He remains awake to watch over us and all His beloved children. So before we go to bed tonight, let’s take a minute to stop and thank God for staying awake so that we can go to sleep—for handling things for us so that we can check out for some rest when we need to. What an amazing God we have!

Psalm 121:4—Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.

Beautiful

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When Ellie was born, she weighed just over six pounds. She was tiny and perfect. I thought she was the most beautiful baby I’d ever seen.

I still think she’s beautiful. At seven years old, her hair’s a lot longer now, and she likes to wear it down. Her eyes are a clear blue. She has a porcelain complexion and a slender build. But though I think Ellie is beautiful, her physical attributes are not the primary reason I think so.

Even more beautiful to me than Ellie’s outward appearance is her heart. From very early on, I could see that Ellie had (and still has) a heart of gold, filled with a level of compassion and tenderness found in few people. When other toddlers cried, Ellie gently patted them and tried to make them feel better. When other children fell down, Ellie tried to help them up. If Ellie could tell I was having a bad day, she drew me a picture to bring a smile to my face. As she grew older, when she could tell someone was sick or just needed encouragement, she suggested that they lie in bed and let her take care of him or her. When other people hurt her, she forgave them and remained loyal.

I truly believe that Ellie is one of the most tender, beautiful souls God ever put on this earth. Not because she’s physically beautiful…but because she loves beautifully.

Ellie loves others the way God means for us to love. No, she’s not perfect. She sins, just like the rest of us, even when it comes to people. But when the chips are down, you want Ellie in your corner. And you’ll have her, because she wants to be there and help you through it.

As a matter of fact, she’s a lot like another Person I know. She looks like Him and acts like Him. It’s no wonder there’s a family resemblance, because He’s her Father. And just like the moon reflects the light of the sun, her spirit reflects the beauty of His. She loves, because He loves.

We’re often amazed when others love us well. We marvel at the depth of their love. But do we ever wonder at the immensity of God’s love for us? The most compassionate person we’ve known on earth demonstrates but a fraction of God’s compassion. The most tenderhearted is only a dim reflection of the Son. The most loving person on earth gives us a mere glimpse of the amazing, overflowing reality of God’s love.

Yet we don’t often stop to contemplate the beauty of Someone Who’s the very fullness of beauty. We know God has all these great qualities, but we don’t spend much time contemplating His beauty. Why not? Think how much pleasure you and I receive from observing and adoring our beautiful, wonderful children. How much more delight would there be in adoring our beautiful, wonderful God?

So will you try something with me this week? The next time we find ourselves thinking about how amazing our child is, or how beautiful and compassionate, let’s let that be a reminder to us to think about God’s infinitely greater beauty. And then, let’s not forget to tell Him how beautiful He is. He longs to hear our response.

Psalm 27:4—One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in his temple.

It’s A Girl!

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When I became pregnant with my first child, I couldn’t wait for THE ultrasound—the one that would tell me if my baby was a boy or a girl. It seemed like forever before I lay on the exam table, my belly exposed, and the technician squirted some gel on it (which they must have been keeping in the refrigerator, because it was cold). She began spreading the gel around with the ultrasound sensor, taking various pictures and measurements as she first made sure my baby was healthy and growing normally.

Then, she paused. “Okay,” she said, “now let’s see if we can find out whether this baby is a boy or a girl.” Please, God, I prayed. Show us.

But Baby kept sticking a foot in the way. Finally, the tech said she thought she knew, but she wanted to get a second opinion from another tech because she hadn’t been able to get an entirely clear view. The second tech agreed with her. “Do you want to know if it’s a boy or a girl?” the first tech asked.

“Oh, yes,” we answered.

“It’s a girl,” she said. We were thrilled.

Over the course of the next five months, I made preparations for the arrival of our precious new daughter. I decorated the nursery in beautiful pastel butterflies and flowers. I stored up tiny pink clothes in her dresser and closet. I bought her toys.

But the anticipation of Ellie’s arrival was nothing compared to what I felt upon seeing her for the first time. “It’s a girl!” the doctor announced, and I cried with happiness. When I held her, all neatly swaddled, and looked into her tiny, perfect face, my joy grew even deeper. I could hardly believe such a beautiful, complete little person was mine.

My husband and I were beyond proud. We called everyone we knew so they could celebrate with us. We wanted the world to know about our beloved daughter, Ellie. It’s a girl!

You know the same joy if you were blessed with a beautiful experience for the arrival of your first child (whether by birth or adoption). You know how it feels to rejoice at God’s marvelous gift to you, far beyond what you ever thought you were capable of. You’ve probably thought, as I have, about how the angels in heaven, and God Himself, rejoiced with you when your baby was born.

But have you ever realized that God rejoiced the same way when you were born?

It’s easy to imagine all heaven rejoicing over the birth of our children. It’s harder to imagine that same level of celebration when we were born. But it’s true. The Bible clearly and emphatically states that God rejoices over us with singing. When did that begin?

When you and I took our first breath, heaven rejoiced. When we cried our first cry, the morning stars sang together. When our mother held us for the first time, the angels shouted for joy. It’s a girl!

And God Himself took us in His arms and whirled around with us, laughing and singing with joy. I have a daughter!

What’s absolutely, incredibly amazing is that He still feels the same way about us today. Yes, He knows we’ve sinned, and will sin again in the future. But His delight in us isn’t based upon our actions, but upon the fact that He created us. We are magnificent examples of His handiwork, and that will never change. He may be less than pleased with some of our actions, but He delights in us.

And just as we wanted everyone around us to rejoice with us in the arrival of our child, God wants everyone around us to rejoice in the fact that we are here. We are far more precious to Him even than our children are to us. When we feel pleasure in our children, or delight, what we feel is only a shadow of what God feels not only for them, but for us.

The next time you find yourself delighting in your child, remember that God delights even more in you. The next time you say, marveling, “That’s my child!” remember that God is even more proud of you. She’s mine, He says, pointing you out to His Son and Spirit and all the angels. That’s my girl!

His words are the echoes of what He said when you were born. When the time came for your arrival, He was the ultimate proud Father waiting to announce you to the world. He couldn’t wait for you to be born so you could begin your life under His watchful care, and one day, grow to love Him. And when you left your mother’s body and entered this life, He rejoiced with all the joy Almighty God is capable of—and maybe even with tears of happiness in His eyes.

Look! He shouted joyfully. It’s a girl!

Job 38:4-7—”Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

Zephaniah 3:17—He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.

Daddy, I Can’t See!

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It seems that Jessica’s personality develops a little more every day. At almost two-and-a-half, she’s delightful, funny, and creative. She often thinks up new things to do and new games to play that I never would have thought of, partly because I’m…well…a lot older than two. She’s also gotten to the stage where she gets bored sitting in her car seat for very long. Combine these two factors, and you get some interesting games.

For example, the other day, my husband was taking the kids somewhere in the minivan so I could work on my contracted book. The way he describes it, it was a run-of-the-mill trip until Jessica cried out, “Daddy, I can’t see! I can’t see!”

He said her voice didn’t seem panicked, but he immediately glanced back at her anyway. And when he did, the cause of her “blindness” became obvious. She was covering her eyes with her hands.

“Silly girl,” he responded, and she grinned and uncovered her eyes.

Apparently, she loves this game, because she played it several more times during that trip and has played it many times since. She loves “fooling” us into thinking there’s a problem when there really isn’t.

Because she’s only two, the game is cute. But it isn’t so cute in the adult version, which we sometimes play.

We may not cover our eyes with our hands and pretend we’re blind. But, like Jessica, we sometimes cause our own problems and then complain about them. Instead of recognizing the part we’ve played in our circumstances and doing what we can to rectify it, we wait for God—or at least another human being—to rescue us.

Sometimes, it’s not a matter of creating our own mess, but of sustaining it beyond the point where it would have resolved naturally. When bad things happen to us, many of us feel more comfortable with continuing to receive sympathy than with moving on. But staying stuck isn’t going to bring us the emotional fulfillment we need.

Granted, there are situations in life that are hard—really hard—to move on from. There are times when needing long-term support is absolutely legitimate. But even during those times, it’s to our benefit not only to receive others’ support, but also to do all we can to help ourselves along the road to healing—even if all we can do is weep before the Lord with grief too deep for words.

Life can be hard. We’ve all suffered. But our suffering will be much less if we don’t cause it ourselves, and don’t prolong it any longer than necessary. When we’re in pain, it’s hard to face the possibility that maybe, we’re partly at fault. Not always, not even usually, but sometimes. And if we examine ourselves and find that there is something more we can do to help lessen our pain than what we’re doing, let’s do it. God will meet us there, and He’ll multiply our efforts toward healing.

Exodus 14:13-16—Moses answered the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today. The Egyptians you see today you will never see again. The LORD will fight for you; you need only to be still.” Then the LORD said to Moses, “Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground.”

Shortcut

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It’s amazing how much you can learn by playing Chutes and Ladders with a preschooler.

Presumably, you can already recognize your numbers, and you probably know how to count, too. So there’s not much for you to learn there, even though it’s what your preschooler’s supposed to be learning. But there are plenty of other things you can learn, which you may never have thought of.

For example, did you know that you can learn patience? Lots and lots of patience, in fact. The way the game works, you spin the spinner and move your little person forward the appropriate number of spaces. You start out on the bottom row, going from left to right. When you get to the end, you go up one row and start moving back toward the left. Each square is numbered so you can remember which direction you’re supposed to be going. Your kids will probably get the idea that they’re supposed to move from one side of the board to the other. But they’ll forget which direction they were going, and if they don’t know their numbers, or if they forget to look at the numbers, they’ll take off in the wrong direction about half the time. You’ll have ample opportunities to say patiently, “No, this way, sweetheart.”

You can even learn about shortcuts and downfalls. See, if your move lands you on a square at the bottom of a ladder, you get to climb all the way to the top, bypassing the lower-numbered squares on the way. On the other hand, if you land at the top of a chute, you have to slide all the way down to a lower-numbered square—sometimes much lower. If you’re so inclined, you can teach your kids about the shortcuts and downfalls of life, and how sometimes you can climb way, way up or slide even farther down.

I’ve played this game a million times before, sometimes playing seven hundred games in a single day. But until the other day, I never thought about one particular aspect of the game.

When my kids were even younger, we didn’t always enforce the rules all that strictly. As long as they were playing by the general idea of advancing toward the last square, we figured that was good enough. Sometimes, we even let them take any path on the board they wanted, or take an extra turn. But recently, we’ve started to require that they play by the rules. So when Lindsey prematurely paused her token at the bottom of a ladder that would have led immediately to the end, I said, “Lindsey, you have to go two more squares.”

She obeyed willingly, finishing out the number she’d spun. But I knew she’d been tempted to take the unauthorized shortcut. And I realized that we as moms often face the same temptation.

I’m not talking about the temptation to hastily end a game that’s gotten too long or too boring. I’m talking about life, where it’s all too easy to use illegitimate shortcuts or unauthorized means to get to where or what we want.

Our kids are hungry and fussing, and we need a few moments’ peace to get our grocery shopping done, so we let them eat a grape or two from the produce aisle.

We really don’t feel like going to work on a particularly beautiful day, so we call in sick and then head for the lake instead of the office.

Or we resent the fact that our friends all have nicer homes than we do, so we buy an expensive home we can’t really afford.

Most of us hate to wait. We want what we want, and we want it now. As in, right now, not later, not some other day or month or year. Usually, we feel like we deserve what we want (as if it were possible to “deserve” any of God’s blessings). We feel entitled to it. And we resent having to wait. So if God doesn’t come through with what we desire, we go get it ourselves.

I can’t think of a better way to wreck our lives and end up with a bunch of what’s not good for us and what we don’t even really want than to take illicit shortcuts to get it. You see, if God requires that we wait, or that we not have a particular item at all, He has a reason. Making an end run around His reason and grabbing the goal for ourselves isn’t going to bring what we hoped it would. Oh, it may bring the object we wanted, but it isn’t going to bring the spiritual blessing we would have had by waiting, or by not obtaining the object at all.

Which is more important? The material blessing or the spiritual? We claim that the spiritual blessing is more important, that obedience to God is our highest value. But sometimes, we show by our actions that other things are more important.

What a witness to a watching world that would be if we showed them that we don’t have to have certain things or circumstances in life in order to be happy—that we’re fully content with God Himself being our portion, and consider ourselves abundantly blessed to enjoy what He’s given us, without having to try to grasp more.

We’d not only bless the world by showing them how satisfying our God can be; we’d also bless God’s heart by acknowledging that He’s enough for us. After all, what else do we really need?

Psalm 73:25-26 – Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

And…They’re Off!

Megan Breedlove No Comments

There’s something about getting to go somewhere that causes kids to turn into sprinters rivaling Olympic champion Usain Bolt. At least, that’s the way it is at our house. When we’re about to go somewhere the kids really want to go, they go potty, put their shoes on, then stand in a clump at the door, jockeying for position. I’ve finally gotten them to stop using their hands to push siblings out of the way, so now they just stand there, four kids squashed together like sardines into two feet squared of linoleum, anxiously awaiting the opening of the door.

“All right, you can go,” I call out, and…they’re off! The closest one pulls the door open, at the same time doing his or her best to block the others from squeezing past and being the first one out to the porch. But when the screen door swings open, then the tide is free. They all rush outside, trying to be first to the steps. They don’t jostle each other on the steps, probably because they remember how mad Mommy gets when they do, saying something about “dangerous”. Then they hit the ground and run to the van.

Actually, it’s not always this bad. For the most part, they’ve now been taught to move calmly and respectfully instead of making it their goal to outrun their siblings. But even though they might not push and shove, there are still times when they burst out the front door inappropriately. Let me explain.

The kids know that there is a very important rule at our house: no going outside without permission. Not even as far as the porch. Ever. I made that rule for safety, and I strictly enforce it. Usually, the kids obey. But recently, I was getting ready to take them somewhere, and I arrived in the living room to find the door standing wide open and only two children still in the house. “Where are Kenny and Jessica?” I asked Ellie.

“They went outside,” she said.

I strode to the screen door and opened it. “Kenny, are you out here?” I called.

“Yes, ma’am,” he said.

“You know the rule about not going outside without permission,” I said firmly.

“Yes, ma’am. But I thought we were leaving.”

I believed him. Kenny probably thought we were so close to leaving that I wouldn’t mind if he went outside. But he was wrong.

Likewise, we adults often get the idea that we can go whenever we’re ready. We know God’s taking us somewhere, so we just get going without even consulting Him to see if it’s time yet. Just as Kenny had confidence in his ability to be outside without supervision, so we have the self-assurance that we can cope with whatever comes up. But sometimes, we’re going to be wrong.

Sometimes, our rushing ahead means we’ll encounter difficulties that can come close to destroying us. Sometimes, the difficulties are ones we can handle, but which we would never have had to deal with at all if we had done things in God’s timing.

What it comes down to is this: just as I knew better than Kenny when it was time to go, so God knows far better than we do when it’s time to move, and when we should stay put. We can’t possibly know as much as He knows. We’re fools if we expose ourselves to potential danger because we didn’t check with Him first.

Let’s let God tell us when it’s time to open the door. I know it can be frustrating to wait when we’re ready to take action. I get that way too, sometimes. I like to make things happen. I don’t like to wait. But I guarantee that following God’s timing is always the best way to do things. It may sometimes be slower, but it’s always better. And ultimately, that’s what we really want, isn’t it?

Job 12:13—To God belong wisdom and power; counsel and understanding are his.

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