THE GIFT OF CHILDREN

“Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me. (Matthew 18:5 NKJV)

“You have taught the little children to praise you perfectly.  May their example shame and silence your enemies.”  (Psalm 8:2 TLB)

“Beware that you do not despise or feel scornful toward or think little of one of these little ones, for I tell you that in heaven their angels always are in the presence of and look upon the face of My Father Who is in heaven:  Allow the little ones to come to Me, and do not forbid, or restrain, or hinder them, for of such {as these} the kingdom of heaven is composed.”  (Matthew 18:10 and Matthew 19:14 AMP)

One season the Lord told me I would grow “holy bold.” I considered my personality as a little church mouse who preferred to remain unseen and unheard.  Cute mice and mouse stories  popped into my life from everywhere. 

My young son drew me a picture of a green Christmas tree with a HUGE mouse trying to hide in it.  John’s gift was a precious way for God to make His point: even if I stayed a mouse, I would grow so big I just couldn’t hide!  So many times my son would draw or color picture stories and give them to me in perfect timing with the Lord’s Word.

Children are gifts straight from heaven and His heart.  I have been astonished by the direct Words of my Father that come through what they say and do.  As I walked through a prolonged season of wavering, seemingly on a spiritual swing set vacillating between two opinions,  I would swing one way and think maybe the Lord meant such n’ such, or I would swing the opposite.  The Lord gave me a picture-vision of myself near the waves of the ocean.  Every time a large wave (overwhelming circumstance) would come close, I would scurry to the top of a very small and skinny tree.  The bottom trunk was about four inches in diameter.  When the wave would hit, the tree bent way over to one side and then the other, bouncing back and forth!

It was a perfect allegory of what I was doing during that season.  Isaiah 35:3 says, “...confirm the feeble knees.”   My knees were anything but confirmed, they felt more like rubber legs, just like that tree trunk!   I felt so sifted and tired of wavering.  One day as I was thinking about wavering back and forth with rubber legs and feeling very condemned,  my very young son interrupted my thoughts.  He said out of nowhere,  “Mama, I am worried my knees might break.”  Regaining my composure, I explained  that when we bend and exercise our knees, it is good for them for it makes them strong!  That was one of many times I remember his little voice penetrating my thoughts and bringing me encouragement from the Lord.  I am now trained to know and believe that good gifts come in small packages! 

THE GIFT OF PARENTHOOD

Prov 6:20-23 NLT

My son, obey your father's commands, and don't neglect your mother's teaching. Keep their words always in your heart. Tie them around your neck. Wherever you walk, their counsel can lead you. When you sleep, they will protect you. When you wake up in the morning, they will advise you. For these commands and this teaching are a lamp to light the way ahead of you. The correction of discipline is the way to life.

Fathers and Mothers are given as gifts of God to raise up and nurture children into godly, responsible and contributing adults.  Today in a cluttered and demanding world, parents are so task oriented they have forgotten the basics of what a child really needs to grow up into a healthy adult.  A child’s deepest needs are not a large, clean home and the best toys money can buy.

Above all, children need to be loved. Parents can show their love for their children by the following:

• Sharing hugs, kisses, tickles and wrestling.

• Listening to the child’s thoughts. 

• Identifying the child’s gifts, talents, and personality traits.

• Helping steer them into projects that help develop those traits.

• Helping the child recognize their own personality and traits that are unique and special. 

• Giving them the best of their time when at home. 

• Understanding their emotional needs.

• Teaching them about God. 

• Teaching them the difference between right and wrong. 

• Giving them safe boundaries and simple, but not demanding structure.

THE GIFT OF seniors

“Listen to your father who begot you, And do not despise your mother when she is old. Buy the truth, and do not sell it, Also wisdom and instruction and understanding.”  (Proverbs 23: 22-23 NKJV)

Sitting in a mall I was watching toddlers play in a central playground area.  Their little muscles and mouths were going 90 miles an hour — not a still moment in the whole group.  Their exhausted parents and grandparents were sitting on the benches patiently (and not so patiently) settling squabbles and kissing owies.  Meanwhile, the toddlers were running in every direction.  I was exhausted just watching it all and thinking how nice it would be to have that much energy! 

That set my mind to thinking about how we are born with a bank account of so much energy and by the time we are seniors we’ve spent most of it.  Then I started thinking about how much life changes for the older ones, where pieces of life fall away and life’s priorities change.  Have you ever noticed that most of the seniors don’t have great worldly ambitions in which they pour their every waking moment?  What matters most to them is people — sitting at the feet of others and enjoying conversation and relationships.   Seniors love loving.  

Jesus said love was to be everyone’s priority — love the Lord with all our hearts and love others as we love ourselves.  That’s all.  He didn’t say we had to accomplish anything, merely love.  So why do we have to wait till we’ve spent most of our bank account of energy to get our priorities straight?

That day on the bench as I watched the older ones watch the children, I also thought that it was a parable of how we grow up in our relationships with the Lord.  We start out so full of our own pursuits in serving the Lord.  Our lives are filled with activities based around Him.  The more mature we become, the less ambitious we become in our own pursuits.  Spending time with Him is what matters most and we are content to sit at His feet and just enjoy Him.

HE SPEAKS THROUGH MISSIONARIES

“...and not only this, but he has also been appointed by the churches to travel with us in this gracious work, which is being administered by us for the glory of the Lord Himself...”  (2 Corinthians 8: 19 NASB)

Missionaries are pastors in a foreign land.  They have left the comforts of their own homes and family and chosen to adopt God’s children of another land.  The Lord has gifted them with the ability to learn a foreign language and culture.  They have learned to be flexible in such surroundings and trust the Lord for their supplies.

I heard of a missionary wife who was having a difficult time explaining how Jesus was nailed to a cross, for the people did not understand what a nail was, never having seen one.  She happened to open a can of peaches sent from home, and inside was a rusty nail.  The Lord provides in mysterious ways.  The missionaries are often the first ones to see Him provide in these unusual yet tangible ways.