Okay. I am not one of those parents to have inspirations of spiritual object lessons every day. In fact I probably don't even have them every month. And so today, when I went for a walk with my 7 yr old boy, I was so grateful to have received this little insight that I had to share. So here's the story:
Spring has sprung - everywhere there are signs of spring!- and just after a huge dump of snow a week ago. So you can imagine therefore we are living in a beautiful sunny but wet, muddy, slushy mess. Because of that I have been encouraging my son for over a week to wear his boots - either his rubber ones or his snowboots - either ones would be fine (although he did leave his snowboots behind at curling last week and so was limited in his choice). For a week he has fought me on it - insisting on wearing his sneakers - repeatedly coming in after 5 minutes with soakers, changing his socks, putting on yet ANOTHER pair of "too large" shoes and heading out again. So stubborn. This morning he wanted to take a walk with me but I insisted he could only come if he wore his rubber boots. And so he did. We walked a good distance, sloshing in the snowy slush, splashing in the puddles, enjoying the day that the Lord had made for us to enjoy!! And then it hit me. I started to talk to him about how much fun we were having and how good it was to not get our feet wet and how if he had worn his shoes like he wanted to then he would have been soaked and cold and we wouldn't have had such a good time. But because he listened to his mom he got to enjoy the walk so much more. And then I explained how GOD gave us His word and we could look at it and say - argh - why do I have to do all those things? Those things are just silly - I'll just ignore all that God said to do and do what I want. But we have to stop and say - wait - God gave us His "plan" for our benefit. It is only when we recognize that and 'submit' to it, that we can truly be FREE - free to splash in the puddles, live life abundantly. Because he loves us so much. And this is where my son chimed in - "To keep us SAFE!" he said understanding very well. Yes, my boy, to keep us safe. To some outsiders perhaps it seems as though Christians are just a bunch of goody goodies, running around trying to follow a bunch of rules because we follow Jesus (and sadly many Christians do have it mixed up and do live out their faith that way) but really the secret is that we are truly free. He loves us so much. He just wants us to follow his plan for our lives. He knows so much more than we do about what we need. He made us. He loves us. When we follow His plan, we reap great rewards. Rewards that never pass away.
John 8:31, 32, 34"Jesus said, "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free... I tell you the truth everyone who sins is a slave to sin...So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed." (also for further study Romans 6:1518, 8:2 and Galatians 5:1-4)
I am so grateful for the freedom I have in Him. WHAT an awesome gift!
Thanks for listening. We really need to do this more often.
No comments:
Post a Comment