Like a child

Ever since the birth of my kids, I have had some special new sense to the world around me and the interaction of kids in that world. One of the things that has especially be breaking my heart is how many times I have witnessed parents over correcting and yelling at their kids because of a mistake or accident that they have made. Over and over I see this and immediately feel all sorts of discomfort and can see the fear and anxiety all over the children's faces. Honestly, this puts me in a rough spot because I almost want to go over and save that kid from the wrath of his or her parents and let them know that it is ok and that they are still loved and cherished. These situations have consistently reminded me of how Christ loves me and how in complete disregard to what I do and to my mistakes, He continues to bend over and pick me back up and affirm in me that I am loved and cherished. This beautiful picture brings me to tears to think about how intimately and compassionately Christ loves me. I know that with my kids, I want them to feel loved so much more than anything else. I want them to experience grace from me first and foremost and the last thing I want to do is demolish their spirits by over disciplining and over correcting for the smallest of mistakes or accidents. It is such a good thing to know that every time i mess up my Father is their to pick me up and dust off my shoulders and tell me that He still loves me and still is passionately pursuing me, celebrating with me when I am victorious.

Perspective

I was reading in Romans 7 this morning about perspective and how when we get so involved with our “self” and see nothing and think of nothing but our “self” we loose perspective and loose the life itself that God desires to give to us. It reminded me of watching this program on tv last week about Oprah and her new academy that she opened up in South Africa. I couldn’t help but think about what it takes for someone to desire to create something so selfless with a true desire to solely help others. There may be a lot of things that I can say I disagree with Oprah on but its hard to do anything other than applaud and join in the support of what she is doing in South Africa for neglected and underprivileged young girls. As I was watching this program, I was tremendously impacted by the stories of the young girls and how bright and well spoken they all were. None of them were saying poor poor me, but rather all wanted to be something greater and make a difference to rescue their families from their poverty. What incredible perspective for a young child to have. So as I was reading this morning I thought about how thirsty I am to live the life that God desires me to live and experience, and how sometimes the day to day grind of working and other stresses blind us to world around us. Paul continues to say that sin eventually perverted the law and caused the Christians that were trying to follow the law so closely were being tripped up with out even really knowing it. He goes on to say that no matter how hard he tried he still ended up doing things he didn’t want to do and learned that he couldn’t trust himself because of how sin dresses itself up to look like something good and that’s in fact why we all need to trust Christ so much. Christ gives us vision and perspective to see things around us and wake us up from just looking in the mirror. After reading this I felt like I had just woken up from a nap or something and was just thankful for the smallest of things in my life like my daughter being able to go to the big girl potty now. I think having a desire to gain perspective through Christ allows us to see others around us and allows us to love, which is entirely what the Gospel is about. There is no greater example of the Gospel than when Jesus walked past the Pharisees and sat and ate with the prostitutes and thieves and beggars. This is exactly what He does with us today! How incredible is it to know that if Jesus were alive today in our day in age He would choose to be our friend and choose to sit and hang with us! That imagery is fruit and breeds life that can give us perspective to just love the same way.