As the school year wraps up and the weather turns warm, Bella and I have been having a few minutes together on the porch each morning. This isn't due to any stellar schedule I've created. Rather it's my love for the first cup of coffee outside and her love for mornings. She usually comes downstairs dressed and ready for the day. Bring on the world, here comes Bella.
She has her little routine out here and I have mine. With May being the way that May is and all, lately I've sat out here and gone through my mental to do list each day. You might have heard, but May is a little busy. The other day I found myself whispering a quick prayer before we left for the day, "God just let me see your love in some small tangible way today." Off we went.
When I came back home after drop off, I had a little bit more time to sit with the Lord. I flipped open Bellas little prayer journal and found this.
Sometimes He whispers, other times He shouts. And sometimes he speaks through a pink marker of a second grader.
~
My reading plan took me to Luke 24 which happens to be one of my favorites. There's so much you can unpack in that chapter but what stuck out to me most that day was that even after Jesus had came and fulfilled his mission He could have checked his box and went on up to Heaven but He didn't stop there. The same love that compelled Him to go to the cross and die for the sins of the whole world, lay in a tomb for three days and rise the third morning kept reaching and teaching after He got up.
Luke 24:15 says that while they (Emmaus Disciples) were discussing and arguing, Jesus himself came near and began to walk along with them. We know that the story doesn't end there either. He walked along that road and into rooms without going through the door and into hearts and lives awakening and reaffirming the faith that they would need to believe. He held out nail scarred hands and broke bread with them and in doing so opened their eyes to see his never ending, never stop reaching for you love.
Sometimes He whispered and sometimes he walked through closed doors and sat at tables all because He loved us. And in his infinite love that's always teaching, always reaching, He's still coming near to us even today.
~
One thing Im really loving about parenting teens is their dry sense of humor. We all know that it's not easy being a teen and it's also not easy parenting one sometimes. But a little sense of humor can go a long way. My mothers day gift was a perfect example. They brought me some beautiful pink and red roses. I oohed and aaahed and put them delicately in a vase. Then I read their card and bent over laughing. One who shall remain nameless had written, "Mom, you're pretty mediocre on a good day but since I'm awesome I still love you! Can't wait for the beach!
Sometimes love whispers, sometimes it shouts and at other times it speaks through the joke of a teenager.
~
As Luke 24 continues it just get's more beautiful as Jesus says things like, "Peace to you! Why are you troubled? Touch me and see." He knew they would struggle. He knew that we would too. But rather than condemning them he just kept showing up and showing off his love through proof of his nail scarred hands and ability to appear and then ascend straight up into Heaven.
We may not be hardly to heaven just yet but I think if we just keep showing up and letting our kids know how much we love them and then more than that how much HE loves them, we'll have more than done our job.
At the end of my days it won't matter if my chores get done, if I ever learn to cook well or if my sheets actually get washed this week. But if I don't let my people know they're loved?! If I don't sit with them on porches, laugh at their jokes, see Jesus with them through breaking bread at the dinner table-(who am I kidding about that one it's more like standing around the kitchen island most evenings) then what have I done?!
If I speak human or angelic tongues but do not have love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. 1 Corinthians 13:1
~ Lord, whether or not I whisper or shout let me not sound like brass or a cymbal, but full of true worship from a heart of love that only comes from You. Let your love be spoken here.
Amen.
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