Manna For Moms

Devotions for Moms Like You!

Megan Breedlove

Look at Me!

Megan Breedlove No Comments

My youngest child, two-year-old Jessica, is enjoying her increasing physical abilities as she discovers what her body is designed to do. Whether it’s stretching as far as she possibly can or deliberately doing something silly, she loves to call my attention to her amazing feats.

Last week, she was in a playful mood. As I sat on the couch reading, I heard her say, “Look at me!”

She had struck a pose that required balancing skills, and she was waiting, with a big grin on her face, for me to applaud her achievement.

“Wow, look at you!” I said, and she grinned even wider, her eyes crinkling at the corners with delight.

One of the things I enjoy most about parenting is affirming my children. I love telling them how much I love them and what valuable creations of God they are. I rejoice in their achievements, and I make sure to show them that I do. I delight in seeing their little spirits grow strong and secure, and knowing that my words and my love had a part in that.

I bet you feel the same way about parenting your children. And I’m absolutely certain that God feels the same way about parenting us.

You and I enjoy pouring love and verbal affirmation into our children’s lives, even over the little things like striking a challenging pose. And if we, being evil, know how to do this for our children, and delight in it, how much more must God delight in doing the same for us?

Pause and let that sink in. Just as we are eager to encourage and affirm our children, God is eager to do the same for us, only vastly more so. (I’m not suggesting that God ever encourages us to keep sinning, or overlooks our sin. I’m talking here about times when we have achieved something good.) And if we can bring a smile to our children’s faces by affirming them, how much more could God bring a smile to our faces and delight to our souls if we could just hear Him cheering for us?

Too often, we get so focused on the fact that He is our Lord, which He most certainly is, that we forget He is also our Friend. That’s what Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection made possible: friendship with God. We can tell God, “Look at me!” and know that He is watching, ready to encourage us.

What does this look like in the normal, everyday life of an ordinary mom?

It looks like doing the laundry and saying, “Look at me, Daddy!” and hearing Him say, “Well done. I’m proud of you.”

It looks like actually getting your family to church on time, saying, “Look at me, Daddy!” and knowing that He is smiling and saying, “Good for you!”

Let’s look for His smile this week (and remember, His smile doesn’t depend on performing perfectly, because nobody can do that, anyway). Let’s listen for His words of encouragement. Let’s invite Him into our life for all the small things, too, that happen to us every day, for Him to share them with us.

“Look at me, Daddy!” we’ll say.

And we’ll know that He looks, and loves, and smiles.

Matthew 7:11 – If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him!

Dashed Hopes

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Imagine that you have a daughter who, from a very early age, shows talent in gymnastics. You enroll her in classes when she turns three, and the coach is amazed at her performance. By the time she’s six, she’s practicing at the gym fourteen hours a week. At twelve, she’s competing at the junior national level.

At fifteen, your daughter makes the Olympic team. A few months later, you travel with her to the Olympics. You’re there for every moment of competition as she earns a spot in the top tier of gymnasts who will go on to compete for medals.

Then, it happens. She hits the springboard, mounts the balance beam…wobbles…and falls. You hear the gasps and murmurs of disappointment from the people sitting around you.

She finishes with a dismal score on beam, and her scores on the other three events aren’t much better. Newscasters and media articles rip her to shreds for not living up to expectations. It’s obvious that they’re not only disappointed in her performance, but angry at her. They pour out their anger upon her, and your mother heart hurts for her.

Mary, the mother of Jesus, would have understood how you feel. She, too, watched her precious firstborn grow up to become the darling of multitudes. Certainly, there were a few people who hated Him, and she herself didn’t always understand what He was doing. But everyone else loved Him and sang His praises.

In fact, as He entered the city of Jerusalem a week before Passover, they were literally singing. Not only that, they were also throwing their garments on the road in front of Him and waving palm branches, shouting His praises.

Yet a week later, they had turned on Him, demanding His blood.

Why?

Most of the Pharisees and other religious leaders never liked Him, so it’s no surprise that they wanted Him dead. But why would a crowd who loved Him a week ago turn on Him and shout, “Crucify! Crucify!”?

One reason was because they were angry. By doing all the miracles He had done, and by putting the oppressive religious leaders to shame with His perfect answers, Jesus had gotten the crowd’s hopes up. Surely this was the Messiah. Who could do more amazing things than Jesus had done? He must be the one!

But then, the people saw Him arrested and beaten, and not fighting back. Wait a minute; what kind of Messiah was this? He must be a false prophet after all. Bitterly disappointed, the crowd became angry and vengeful.

We know what happened next. The sinless Son of God, Jesus Christ, allowed humanity to put Him to death as part of God’s perfect plan for the redemption of our souls. He took the punishment we deserved because of our sins but never could have borne, so that we wouldn’t have to. Why? To bring glory to God the Father by reconciling us to Him, if we will repent of our sins, accept His sacrifice on our behalf, and acknowledge His lordship.

But that’s not what the people were hoping for. They wanted liberation from Rome, not liberation from sin. And Jesus hadn’t met their expectations.

Precious mom, what do you and I do when our children don’t live up to what we expect of them?

Far too often, we sin. We get angry. We yell, or use sarcasm, or worse. We don’t crucify their bodies, but we wound their little spirits.

We get disappointed, and we take it out on them.

Clearly, there are times we have to discipline our children. But do we do it in a redemptive way? Or do we punish them, not for their sin, but for disappointing us?

Other times, we punish them when they haven’t even sinned. Whether Johnny doesn’t have an athletic bone in his body, or Suzie doesn’t want to dress “frilly” like other little girls, we show our disappointment in our words (or lack of words), our tone of voice, or our body language.

I wish I could say that I always discipline rightly, but I can’t. Perhaps you can’t either. Our hearts should grieve over our sin.

Oh, God, help us. Forgive us for wounding our children’s precious souls. Grant us wisdom, that we may know when and how to discipline, and self-control, that we might always discipline for our children’s benefit and with love. Help us rise and begin again to shepherd Your precious sheep with the same lovingkindness with which You shepherd us. May our homes be a place where it’s safe to be imperfect, and where unconditional love is shown all the time.

In Jesus’ name we pray.

Amen.

James 1:5— If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.

1 Corinthians 16:14—Do everything in love.

So Bad

Megan Breedlove 2 Comments

Discipline is hard. Wouldn’t you agree?

It may even be the hardest part of rearing children. There are the times when you wonder if what your child did is really an offense, and if it even merits correction. There are other times when the action definitely deserves discipline, but it’s hard to figure out exactly what the consequences should be. Then, there are the occasions when you know exactly what your child deserves, but it breaks your heart to have to enforce it.

Discipline is challenging for other reasons, too. We all know we’re supposed to be consistent, but sometimes it’s really hard to get up off the couch and apply consistency when you’re exhausted from lack of sleep the night before. Or when you’ve tried to be consistent with your discipline, and it looks like you’re not making any progress, and then your child does the same thing you’ve told him not to do a thousand times already—do you apply the same consequence for the thousand-and-first time, hoping it works this time, or do you try something else?

When your child’s behavior is so bad, what do you do?

Two years ago, a friend of mine was struggling with a behavior of her daughter’s that was particularly difficult. My friend had tried everything she could think of. She was praying, she was disciplining consistently, she was seeking advice from others—and still, her daughter kept behaving the same way. My friend was exhausted and discouraged.

There may be times when a situation is so serious that more extreme measures have to be taken to protect the welfare of the family. But this was not one of those times. This was the kind of situation we’ve all found ourselves in, where we’re just plain exhausted. Where we begin to consider whether the battle is really worth it. Where we feel like giving up the fight.

I’m so glad God never gives up the fight where one of His children is concerned.

We’ve all sinned against Him far more often and more seriously than our children have sinned against us, yet God never washes His hands of us.

Yes, He may allow us to experience the consequences of our actions—which may include distance from Him—in order to get our attention and bring us to our senses. But He never walks away from us. He never decides that we’re so much trouble He’s not willing to deal with our problems anymore.

Praise Him that this is the truth! Because of His infinite love, mercy, and faithfulness, He sticks with us until the end, and not from a far distance, either, but still desiring to be intimately involved.

He still keeps trying, even when we continue to frustrate His efforts.

The next time we find ourselves running short on patience with our children, let’s take just a minute to remember that our children aren’t the only ones who frustrate their parents. We’ve frustrated our Parent, too.

Let’s confess our sins to God, and let’s cooperate with His parenting instead of resisting Him.

Then, let’s ask Him to help us show our children the same patience He has shown to us: a loving, redemptive patience that leads us into closer relationship with Him.

In our so doing, may He be glorified.

Joshua 1:5—As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.

John 13:35—By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

Helping Us

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It’s hard to believe Ellie has been potty-trained for four years now. It seems like just yesterday that I would get so excited when she got even a little trickle into the potty. “Good job!” I’d say, trying to strike the right balance between affirmation and not calling too much attention to the whole process.

My husband and I joked that Ellie should write a coffee table book, one of those oversized ones with pictures, called Potties of America, because she liked to check out the potty everywhere we went. It didn’t matter if she’d just successfully used the potty at Target; when we walked into Wal-Mart, she suddenly had to go again.

Potty training was going well. But every now and then, Ellie still needed a little help with clothes that were difficult to unfasten. I remember one time when my husband told Ellie to go potty, since we were about to leave the house. “But Daddy, I can’t get the button,” Ellie said.

So Daddy helped her manage the difficult fastening.

Maybe this scene seems insignificant, considering that similar ones happen in households across the world every day. But it illustrates a profound spiritual truth.

Just as Ellie’s daddy responded when she needed help in completing what he asked her to do, so our heavenly Father responds when we need His help in carrying out the services He asks of us.

We often hear the statement, “God won’t give you anything you can’t handle.”

I would amend that to say, “God won’t give you anything you can’t handle with His help.”

He most certainly does assign us tasks that are beyond—sometimes far beyond—our ability to complete on our own. But He always offers the help we need to be able to achieve what He’s required of us.

God will never charge us with accomplishing something with which He will not also help us. Can you imagine an earthly parent saying to her child, “It’s time for you to learn how to drive. Here are the keys. Good luck, because I won’t be with you. I hope you figure it out”?

Of course not. And if we, being evil, know how to come to our children’s aid, and are willing to do so, how much more does our heavenly Father desire to help us do what He asks of us?

Sometimes, as moms, as Christians, or as both, we get the idea that we shouldn’t need help, because we should be able to do everything by ourselves. Then, when we run into trouble, we spend far too much time trying on our own to force things to work out, when clearly the situation is beyond our capabilities.

The next time we encounter difficulties—and there will come a next time—let’s be quick to lay down our pride and our mistaken ideas that we have the ability to be independent. Let’s recognize and admit it when we need help.

For one thing, we were made to need our Creator, and it’s a mistake ever to think we can be independent. For another, when we show a watching world that we need Him, and that He is sufficient to make us fully capable, we bring Him glory.

And bringing Him glory is a far greater privilege than being able to say, “I did it myself.”

Matthew 7:11—If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!

2 Samuel 22:30—With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.

Independence

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At two years old, my youngest child, Jessica, has entered her independent stage. I used to be able to help her do things like get into the van. Not anymore. “No! Do it myself!” she wails if I try to assist her.

There are many things Jessica wants to do by herself, but she’s not always able to do what she desires. It gets frustrating for me, having to watch her attempt something for herself that I could do for her ten times faster, and not be “allowed” to help her.

Sometimes, when Jessica realizes she can’t do something, she’ll ask for help. Other times, she won’t. She’ll just keep trying unsuccessfully, usually fussing about it.

Jessica’s not alone in wanting to be independent when she really needs help. You and I are the same way. Take mothering, for example. Often, we’re slow to ask for help because we think that we should be able to do it all—that if we would just try harder or better, we could do everything.

It’s bad enough when we try to mother without being willing to ask for or accept assistance from other mothers. It’s worse when we try to navigate life without help from God.

How many times have we called our friends or family first when we’re faced with a problem, instead of talking to God? How often have we found ourselves in the middle of a situation before we remembered to pray?

If you’re like me, the answer is “far too many times”.

We want to do things on our own because we can thus maintain the illusion of control, or because we want to believe that we’re ultra-capable and thereby give our self-esteem a boost.

But do you know what? We weren’t made to be independent of God.

Even when we think we’re independent, we’re not. When we think we’re accomplishing life without God’s help, we’re not. After all, who gave us our bodies that we use to accomplish things? Who gave us our mind, our personality, our skills?

Anything we accomplish is done with God’s help, even if we don’t specifically ask for it.

We may not know this, but God does. He’s well aware of our limitations because He created us. How ridiculous must it look to Him when He sees us thinking we’ve got it all together and don’t need His help?

Sometimes, as I do with Jessica, God stands back and watches, letting us come to the realization that we can’t do something on our own. I’ll bet it frustrates Him. But He knows we have to come face to face with our insufficiency so that we can realize we are merely creatures, and we need Him.

When God shows us we need His help, what do we do? Do we keep trying to do the task on our own, complaining, stressing about it and refusing to ask for help? Or do we humble ourselves and admit our need?

What are you and I facing right now in life wherein we need God’s help? (If our answer is “nothing”, we’re badly mistaken.) Have we admitted that we need help, or are we still struggling along on our own, struggling, complaining, and stressing?

May we be quick to acknowledge our limitations, let God take our burdens, and accept the help He offers.

1 Corinthians 4:7—What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as though you did not?

2 Chronicles 14:11— Then Asa called to the LORD his God and said, “Lord, there is no one like you to help the powerless against the mighty. Help us, O LORD our God, for we rely on you.”

PEEK-A-BOO!

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One of Jessica’s favorite games is peek-a-boo. She loves to cover her face with her little hands, fingers splayed apart, and say, “Where you go?”, indicating that I’m supposed to ask her that question.

“Where’s Jessica?” I say obligingly.

“I don’t know,” she says innocently, in a ‘hmm, I can’t imagine’ tone of voice.

“I don’t know, either,” I say.

Suddenly, Jessica pulls her hands away from her face, grinning. “Peek-a-boo!” she says delightedly.

Jessica finds this game so much fun chiefly because of her mistaken belief that when she can’t see me, I can’t see her, either. If she knew I could see her the whole time, it wouldn’t be nearly so much fun to try to hide from me.

We play a similar game with God. We act as if because we can’t see Him, He must not be able to see us, either. Or if He can, He isn’t looking.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

The Bible clearly teaches that God is intimately involved in our lives. He knows what we need before we ask, then fulfills our needs. He causes all things to work together for our good. He has numbered the very hairs of our head.

That hardly sounds like a God who isn’t really paying attention.

Failing to realize that God sees us and knows the thoughts and intentions of our heart every minute of every day can lead to either of two serious errors. The first is thinking, “God isn’t really paying much attention to me, so I can do what I want.” Friend, there will come a day of reckoning for all of us. Just because God has chosen to withhold consequences for now doesn’t mean He will do so forever. God isn’t letting us get away with anything, as if He were an earthly parent who is just so tired He decides not to enforce His law this particular time. Rather, He may be giving us a chance to repent before He has to step in and bring us to our senses.

The second error is thinking, “God isn’t really paying much attention to me because He doesn’t love me.”

Once again, we couldn’t be more wrong than to think this way. Over and over, the Bible teaches us that God is intimately acquainted with us and longs for a relationship with us. Jesus laments that He had wanted to gather Jerusalem into the folds of His love, but she wasn’t willing. The Psalms rejoice over and over in God’s full knowledge of us, because it reflects His love for us. Let’s not forget the clearest illustration of all—that God sacrificed His own Son to redeem us.

God loves us. He loves us, and He knows us. There’s no escaping that fact. Just because we can’t see Him physically doesn’t mean He can’t see us. All it means is that we walk by faith, not by sight. But one day, the faith will be sight. We’ll see Him face to face. We’ll look into His eyes and see the love that’s been there all along, that we’ve never fully comprehended.

O God, may You give us a glimpse of that now—of Your incredible love and complete knowledge of us. May we not play games of hiding from You, but may we rejoice in the relationship with You that You offer us through Your grace. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Jeremiah 1:5—“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.”

Luke 12:6-7—Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.

Psalm 139:1-4—O Lord, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord.

Bringing Them to the Father

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One of Jessica’s favorite activities is playing “bobbies” (her word for “babies”). We have several baby dolls, some doll-sized equipment, and a thousand little outfits and accessories. Jessica loves taking care of her dolls, doing all the things with them she knows mommies do with babies.

One day, Jessica and I were playing dolls in the playroom. We had a few dolls spread out around us, and we were taking care of them all. I put two of the smallest ones in the doll swing, which is not balanced very well, and swung them until they fell out.

“Waah! Waah!” I said, pretending they were crying.

Jessica reached toward them.

“Help us, Jessica!” I said, in my best baby doll voice.

Jessica picked up the babies and handed them to me without hesitation. She watched me as I comforted them and made them feel all better.

In the same way that Jessica handed me her babies, we, too, should bring our broken, hurting loved ones to our Father. Instinctively, Jessica knew that the best comfort for those babies was to be found in my arms. Likewise, we know that the greatest healing is to be found in the arms of our heavenly Father. Yet too often, we focus on offering our friends other things rather than bringing them to God. All of these things—our support, counseling, medication—are fine in and of themselves, and they may be the means through which God chooses to heal our loved one. But we make a critical mistake when we do these things to the exclusion of pointing our loved one to Jesus.

It’s wonderful to offer our empathy, but let us not forget also to remind our loved one how God feels.

It’s great to offer sympathy, but let’s not fail to gently correct or rebuke where that may be needed, and to point our loved one toward God’s righteous standard.

It’s healing to help our family and friends through their struggles on this earth, but may we never forget to remind them of heaven, where “there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain”.

I’m not suggesting that we listen to someone’s pain and offer them a pat, religious answer, or a cliché. I’m suggesting that we do every bit of the kind of comforting and encouragement we are used to, but that we also offer them more. We bring them to God.

Of course, the ultimate “bringing to God” involves introducing someone to Him, to His love for them and their need of Him, and to His wonderful plan of salvation.

Providing comfort is part of the healing ministry of Christ’s church. It’s something we must do, because humanity needs it, and we’re commanded to do it. But even more important than comforting their souls is introducing them to the One Who can save their souls.

The next time someone comes to us for comfort, may we comfort them in a way that shows them God’s love.

But even more important, may we show them God Himself.

John 1:40-42—Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, was one of the two who heard what John had said and who had followed Jesus. The first thing Andrew did was to find his brother Simon and tell him, “We have found the Messiah” (that is, the Christ). And he brought him to Jesus.

Mark 2:1-5—A few days later, when Jesus again entered Capernaum, the people heard that he had come home. So many gathered that there was no room left, not even outside the door, and he preached the word to them. Some men came, bringing to him a paralytic, carried by four of them. Since they could not get him to Jesus because of the crowd, they made an opening in the roof above Jesus and, after digging through it, lowered the mat the paralyzed man was lying on. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”

Forgiveness…Again

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My just-turned-two-year-old daughter, Jessica, enjoys dressing up. She likes to put on several necklaces from the dress-up closet, plus maybe a hat and a purse. She also seems to have particular ideas about which shoes she wants to wear, even when she’s just wearing regular clothes.

One of her favorite pairs of shoes is a black, slip-on shoe with a very low heel and pink flowers across the top of her foot. A few days ago, she was wearing them while walking around our kitchen. She came closer to me to check out what I was doing, and then she pushed herself in between me and the counter and went past me. In the process, she stepped on my foot.

“Ouch,” I said, because I wasn’t wearing any shoes, and she actually hurt me a little bit.

“Sorry, Mommy,” Jessica said.

“I forgive you,” I said. Again, I added mentally.

There are times in the course of our day when Jessica does something that hurts me, mainly because she is only two and doesn’t always realize when something she does will hurt someone. Because she is the extremely polite child that she is, she always says, “Sorry, Mommy.”

“I forgive you,” I always say. But lately, we had gone through this routine several times, because Jessica had accidentally done several minor things that caused me brief moments of pain or discomfort. I was tired of having to forgive yet again.

We should be very glad that God never gets tired of extending forgiveness to us. When we come before Him, repentant, asking His forgiveness, He always responds the same way: “I’ve already forgiven you,” He says. “My Son paid the price for your forgiveness when He died on the cross.”

One of Satan’s favorite deceptions is to try to make us think God doesn’t want to forgive us. How could God forgive you? he whispers in our ear. Look at what you did. Look at all the things you’ve done.

But you can’t out-sin God’s grace. No matter what you’ve done, no matter when, or why, or how many times, God can and will forgive you when you come to Him repentant.

Isn’t that amazing? Despite all the sins we committed before we became Christians, despite all the sins we committed afterward, and despite those we’ll commit in the future, God still loves us and still forgives us.

He doesn’t forgive us because we deserve it. He does so because of grace, because He loves us and has accepted His Son’s sacrifice as payment for our sins. You and I are already forgiven because Someone paid the price.

If you don’t know that Someone, or what He’s done for you, I encourage you to check out the “How to Know God” section of this website. Don’t wait to get acquainted with the One Who died so that you could truly live.

Those of us who do know that Someone should spend time meditating on the immensity of His incredible grace toward us. We should marvel at it. May we never take something so incredible for granted.

Instead, may we make our lives unceasing offering of gratitude for the amazing gift we’ve been given.

1 John 1:9—If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to purify us from all unrighteousness.

Matthew 18:21-22—Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?” Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.”

Lifter of My Head

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Recently, our local football team, the Dallas Cowboys, lost in the playoffs to the Minnesota Vikings. The score was 34-3. It wasn’t even close.

Several times during the game, it looked like the Cowboys would pull ahead. But ultimately, they lost, and lost badly.

It must have been a particularly disappointing loss for Tony Romo, the quarterback. In a game when he should have been at his best, Romo wasn’t. His stats were disappointing, and he was sacked six times. He knows he is capable of better. Everyone else knows it, too.

Though the loss certainly wasn’t Romo’s fault alone, I bet he assigned himself a significant percentage of the blame. At least, looking at the picture on the next-day paper’s front page, it looks like he did.

In that picture, Romo is walking down a ramp that leads beneath the bleachers to the locker room. As he approaches the tunnel, there are fans on either side and fans in front of him who are sitting above the tunnel. Romo is walking with his shoulders looking as slumped as they can in that protective padding, his head down. His posture says that he’s taking it hard, and the headline agrees: Defeated, dejected.

Romo’s not the only person who stands out in this picture, however. There’s one more, a fan to Romo’s right, leaning over the railing with his arm and hand extended down, reaching out to Romo. Many other fans in the picture are doing the same thing. But what makes this fan stand out is the look on the young man’s face.

He’s not smiling. He’s not calling out to Romo. He wears a quiet, solemn look.

The difference between him and all the others is that this young man looks like he’s reaching out to offer Romo support, rather than to enjoy the privilege of slapping hands with a famous football player.

I could be completely wrong about this man. Maybe he was starstruck. Maybe all he wanted was the brief contact with fame.

Or maybe he really was reaching out to offer Romo support. Maybe he was reaching out his hand to say not I want a piece of you but Hey. It’s okay, man. You’re still great.

I’ll never know how he really felt because I don’t know who he is, so I can’t ask him. But I do know Someone who does respond that way in the face of someone else’s dejection and failure.

Our God responds like that. He sees us hurting, and He stretches out His hand, or wraps His arms around us, and says, It’s okay. I still love you.

Just as the fan must have been well aware that the Cowboys had just lost, God is well aware of when we’ve failed. If our failure involves sin, He doesn’t minimize that. But He does reassure us that whatever the circumstances of our failure, whether sin, mistake, or inability, He still loves us.

Looking at the picture, I thought about Romo looking up and seeing the fan’s outstretched hand, and I realized that it was a beautiful illustration of how God lifts up our heads.

When we look down at our feet, we see only our sins and failures and feel only the crushing weight of shame and disappointment. But when we look at Him, our heads are lifted, and we can see and receive His comfort and love.

Are you looking down at your feet today? Is the weight of your failure so heavy that it’s bowing your shoulders?

Look up. Look up and see the comfort God offers you. If you need forgiveness, He offers that, too. Let His encouragement soak into your soul.

Yes, you have failed. So have I. But despite our failures, we are loved. So let’s no longer focus on the ugly way we feel, but on the beautiful way He feels. Rather than allowing our sin to be our shame, let’s allow Him to be our glory. May our heads and our hearts be lifted as we learn to look not to what we have done, but to what He has done for us.

Psalm 3:3—But thou, O LORD, are a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head.

I Want to Help

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My youngest child, Jessica, loves to help me around the house. At almost two, she is eager to do whatever she sees Mommy doing. Often, she is the one to initiate helping.

One day last week, I was in the kitchen making my kids’ favorite supper, macaroni and cheese. I saw that the water was boiling, so I went over to the counter, where I had set out the boxes of noodles. At that point, Jessica entered the kitchen. “I want to help,” she said, walking over to me.

“Okay,” I said, opening the boxes and removing the cheese packets. I handed her one of the boxes. “Will you please carry this over to the stove for me?”

Jessica followed me to the stove, carrying her box of macaroni. I poured in mine, then hers. “Thank you for helping,” I said.

I try to encourage Jessica’s helpful spirit every chance I get. I usually don’t need her help, and in fact, it often takes me longer to complete a task with her help than without it. But I allow her to help for two primary reasons: first, because she considers it a privilege to help me, and second, because helping Mommy gets her in the habit of helping others.

These are the same reasons God allows us to help Him. He doesn’t need our help. He is the Almighty Creator of the Universe, Who made the world in six days. He doesn’t need us to help Him do anything. But He allows us to help because He knows it is a privilege for us to help Him.

Granted, there are some tasks God asks us to perform that are not pleasant. These are the ones we balk at. We don’t want to do them, so we complain. We forget that God always has a purpose for asking, and that purpose may involve our character development somehow, but certainly involves His glory. If we do what He asked, we do it grudgingly.

Where is our delight in being allowed to do anything at all for Him? Why do we not count ourselves privileged that He involves us with Him in His work by asking us to do something? We can either focus on the part of the task we don’t like, or we can choose to remember that God is allowing us to participate with Him in His work, and we can be grateful.

The second reason I allow Jessica to help is to get her in the habit of being helpful, and we can be certain this is part of God’s plan for us, as well. But He may not always allow us to help others in the grand ways we want to.

It could be that the job He wants done is small. It might also be that God knows we still need training before we will be ready to handle the big jobs. If I had told Jessica to make the macaroni herself, she would have failed, because she is not ready for that task.

In the same way, God sometimes gives us small jobs because He knows we are not yet ready for the bigger ones. Maybe there is a character issue He needs to refine. Maybe we simply need to learn a new skill.

Are you and I willing to perform small tasks for God, or do we only want to do the bigger ones? Are we willing to staple handouts for our group, or will we only be satisfied with being the group’s leader? Are we contented with singing our child to sleep, or will we only be satisfied if we can be the church soloist?

Let’s be grateful that God is willing to use us at all. We don’t deserve the privilege of helping Him, yet He has chosen to offer it to us, and in the most precious of all ways—caring for our children. We’ve already been awarded the most important task there is. Let’s perform whatever else He asks us with gratitude for His allowing us to work for His kingdom alongside Him.

After all, serving God is both a privilege and an honor. May we never act as if it’s anything less.

Psalm 84:10—Better is one day in your courts than a thousand elsewhere; I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of the wicked.

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