Tag Archives: Christian parenting

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Floating

Approaching Sweden

Approaching Sweden

I have spent the past two weeks floating – figuratively and actually. We were able to fulfill a lifelong dream of mine to visit Sweden, the home of my maternal grandmother. I was floating in a dream come true that ended up exceeding my expectations. We also visited other counties bordering the Baltic Sea which was the actual floating bit, moving from one port to the next.

We had been planning and saving for this trip for a long time. Phil did almost all the work of making reservations, flight plans, and tours of the various cities. The past several years our vacations have included major league baseball games. This year – it was art museums, palaces, and cathedrals. Phil did a great job. Everything went smoothly except that his suitcase didn’t arrive until the 3rd day, which was fine because he doesn’t mind wearing the same shirt over again!

Like planning any big event – a wedding, a family reunion, an anniversary celebration – it takes some hard work and careful planning to carry it off. Even then, the unexpected often happens. That is when it is best to float – just go with the current. We can’t change the unexpected circumstances – but we can choose our response.

There is a good example of this challenge, let’s call it the “floating challenge” in the Bible. In Genesis God tells Noah to build an ark to save himself and his family from the judgement that God was going to shower on mankind. Get it – “shower”?

Back to Genesis, God tells Noah to build an ark and he gives Noah very specific instructions. So, Noah and his sons become the laughing-stock of their community because they dedicate themselves to building a very large boat – on dry land. They ignore the trash talk and stay focused on their goal – building the ark. The rains come and Noah and his family are ready. They had made preparations according to God’s directions and the ark held Noah and his family and lots of animals. (more that just two of some species – see Genesis 7:2)

It rains for 40 days and 40 nights and then….

they float.

They float for about 10 months. You can imagine that it takes quite a while for the water to recede and the ground to dry out enough for all to leave the ark.

Genesis 8:1-8

8 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and the livestock that were with him in the ark, and he sent a wind over the earth, and the waters receded. 2 Now the springs of the deep and the floodgates of the heavens had been closed, and the rain had stopped falling from the sky. 3 The water receded steadily from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down, 4 and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the mountains of Ararat. 5 The waters continued to recede until the tenth month, and on the first day of the tenth month the tops of the mountains became visible.

But that is not all – you can read the rest of the waiting period in the verses that follow in Genesis 8.

God gives directions to Noah about building the ark and about gathering his family and the animals. God also gives directions to Noah upon leaving the ark.

But nothing is said about floating. That is the time they had to wait and trust until God showed them what was next. That was the floating challenge.

That is so much like parenting, isn’t it? We plan, prepare, train, teach, feed and cloth our children. We do our best to instill strong moral character and Godly principles in their lives. Yet after all the preparations, the “floating” comes. The time when we must wait and trust God with the outcome.

There doesn’t appear to be any navigational system on the ark. Noah had to believe that it would float where it should. Or more accurately, that where the ark floated was exactly where God wanted it to float. In the end, God had it covered. He is faithful.

That is the faith I need to have in God. Faith that God will use my attempts to follow His plan for parenting. Then in the times of floating, the times when I have no control, God will once again prove Himself faithful.

Some floating may be calm.

Some floating may be on rough seas, even tempests.

Do I believe that God is in control of the floating?

Yes, God is faithful.

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We Are Suffering

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“26 If one part [of the Body of Christ] suffers, every part suffers with it;”            I Cor. 12:2

Families are suffering in Charleston, South Carolina – they are our brothers and sisters in Christ – therefore we are suffering.

I couldn’t help think of the children of the pastor whose father is now no longer with them. It is Father’s Day, a tragic reminder of all they have lost. Others murdered were also fathers.

They were at church praying, just where many thousands of Christians throughout our country are on Wednesday night – praying. It hurt so much to think of this evil act being carried out in a place where God is worshipped and His love is shared.

I was reading yesterday in a journal my Grandmother Barker, my father’s mother kept. After a tragedy occurred during Woodrow Wilson’s presidency, Grandma quoted him as asking that these verses be read to him.  II Corinthians 4: 6-9 (NKJV)

6 For it is the God who commanded light to shine out of darkness, who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

7 But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.

8 We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed;

   we are perplexed, but not in despair;  

9  persecuted, but not forsaken;

   struck down, but not destroyed;

I have heard many of the family members and friends of those murdered speak of forgiveness in this time of horrific pain and loss. What a testimony of God’s amazing grace!

As the Body of Christ we MUST step up our efforts to battle the forces of evil that foster hatred.

It starts in our homes as we express acceptance and love for all people, especially those who may be different from us. Hatred is a learned attitude. When our homes are places of love and acceptance – our children will learn to treat others with respect.

Sing this simple, yet profound chorus with your children and talk about what it means –

” Jesus loves the little children

ALL the children of the world

Red, brown, yellow, black, and white

They are precious in His sight

Jesus loves the little children of the world.”

Hatred can not exist in our hearts if God’s love is present. Now is the time to plant those seeds of love and respect in the hearts of our children and grandchildren.

We must keep those suffering in Charleston in our prayers.

We are all suffering – but love wins in the end.

 

 

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Are We Ready?

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I had ONE more day of school left. There were 10 days left until my due date. After that last day of school I would …

  • paint the crib
  • wash the baby clothes given as gifts
  • decorate the baby’s room
  • pack my bag for the hospital
  • clean house so that all was ready for my return with the new baby

My water broke that night and I delivered our first-born – Benjamin Baruch Woody – on June 9th – the last day of school.

I was NOT ready. The “stuff” was NOT ready.

Benjamin was ready – God was ready.

Our pastor touched on this very issue Sunday during the sermon. We make plans and prepare according to those plans. Yet we are often surprised by the timing of events and the way things happen. God is NOT surprised.

I was SURE I would have 10 days to prepare for the birth of our first child after I finished that year of teaching.

Thankfully my mother was already here and was able to deliver the report cards to my kindergarten students at Almond School. She and Phil got everything else ready the two days I was in the hospital.

This is such a clear picture of how we often view our lives. We make plans and then difficulties in life happen. Those trials can turn our world upside down. Situations occur that we have NO plans for like;

  • a house burning down
  • the death of a loved one
  • cancer of other illness
  • an accident

God is not surprised by any of these situations – these situations are opportunities for God to demonstrate His faithfulness and great love for us.

Demonstrate His love? By the death of a loved one?

God wants us to be ready to face all of life that comes our way. We do that by being ready to trust God no matter what happens. Just as in natural birth, a baby comes when it is ready, we must be ready to respond in faith to the circumstances of our lives.

Is that easy? No. Birth is not easy either, but the end result is WORTH the pain and suffering. So is trusting God. In John 16 Jesus is preparing His disciples for the time when He will leave them. Jesus says –

“21 A woman giving birth to a child has pain because her time has come; but when her baby is born she forgets the anguish because of her joy that a child is born into the world. 22 So with you: Now is your time of grief, but I will see you again and you will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy.”

Jesus goes on to say –

31 “Do you now believe?” Jesus replied. 32 “A time is coming and in fact has come when you will be scattered, each to your own home. You will leave me all alone. Yet I am not alone, for my Father is with me.

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.”

Jesus’s disciples were about to watch Him be beaten and crucified. Their world would be shattered!

But Jesus reminds them that He has overcome the world – take heart! He is saying that same thing to you and me.

Are we ready?