Invisibility Pt. 2-

THE FATHER'S HEART THROUGH A MOTHER'S EYES


"I have become all things to all men, that I may by all means save a few." (1 Cor 9:22 )

So, as we ended last week we resolved, you WONDERS of your FATHER’S HEART…and I, to blink HARD and get our own exhaustion-induced version of this key verse out of our minds. HERE is WHY I want this for you and I so badly:

I KNOW, that if we can grasp the magnitude of the honor God has bestowed upon us in asking us to raise HIS children… If we can truly let it sink it and settle in our hearts that our Father chose US just as confidently and intentionally as he knit our children together, to carry out the immense and magnificent challenge of bringing his babies safely through this world and back home to HIM, having given Him glory on their journeys, and even grabbing up a few stragglers along their way…. fulfilling their own purposes... If THAT concept could authentically live inside of us daily, in even the most monotonous, arduous days, even the utterly 'invisible' ones, we would KNOW inside and out,that there is no greater purpose for our lives.

It's huge. We would KNOW there is no deeper meaning. No more successful ‘job’ or career path. No more distinguished title than our own: MOMMY. There is no more flattering promotion or once a year bonus than those tiny, muffled up daily words… “Ahhwna hode joo” (My 2 year old’s version of “I wanna hold you”). It ALWAYS incites me to respond, "That's so funny because I want to hold you, too!" I could cry at the extravagance of that kind of love. And MY GOD, not only called ME and YOU to the task of raising these, each our own, unique and individual kiddos, but also infused that ‘duty’ not with a paycheck or a plaque, promotion or preferred parking spot, but with the wet, yummy, goldfish -lip kisses and tender little “hode joo’s” that we receive daily. Does it get better? I wonder, really? Does it? Better than tucking those bitty heart-boosters in your heart as you go along...?

Do our husbands get that at work? I had to laugh at my husband last week, but now, I almost feel sorry for him. I don't care that he's in bed. I don't care that I'll regret staying up so late tomorrow morning. I don't care. I don't want to trade!

I want us to GET the fact that we are, above all, cherished by our Father. And ONE of the many, many ways we get to know this intimately, and daily, is by the sheer fact that He's asked of us a thing more dear to His heart than we can even fathom. We think WE love our children? Imagine with HIS capacity for love, how much more so He loves them. And us. HE HAS entrusted them to us! Think yourself a shepherd....and I'll tell you why that is the highest calling your life could assume in a bit... For this moment, let's just agree on one thing: I am a blessed woman. And YOU, you Wonder of your Father’s Heart, YOU are a blessed woman, too. So, BLINK HARD with me, and let’s get this perspective down RIGHT so we can not only walk confidently in this calling of motherhood, but ALSO receive IN IT, the love with which he means to fill us for the road ahead.

If nothing else, let these words become for YOU, a love letter that God has slipped into our apron pockets each new morning. It is, after all, a tender reassurance of our value to Him. It is a message endlessly infused with words of His confidence in His own choice of YOU for the task He has set before you- the good works He's set up for you to walk into. It is a letter affirming His intention that YOU know there is no more prestigious, honored role in HIS eyes that you could be playing in your life, than tending to His little sheep. Becoming all things…..to save your few…

THAT'S WHY WE'RE DWELLING HERE! YOU WERE CHOSEN FOR THIS! I don't want you to miss out on the fact that YOU are precious here, too. God did fine before us and will do fine after- but His intent to bring future generations of lovers of the King into this world DID, in fact, settle upon you (and not as a punishment!!!! though you may wonder on some days..... :) He could have gotten these little ones here through any means. But YOU were chosen, by His divine knowledge and intimate love for YOU. It was His knowledge of YOUR heart and all the goodness that you've allowed Him to sow deep within it: the faith, hope and love.....that HE saw and found worthy for the task of mothering these lambs. YOU were graciously selected for THIS time and THIS task with THESE CHILDREN! That, my sisters, is flattery!

(Now, before you get too hung up on the emphasis on 'YOU', as many believers can, please recognize, I am simply wanting to point out that we can only walk this motherhood journey in steps truly glorious to HIM if we have the right perspective, and that requires a correct understanding. If we feel it an assignment to be a mom, or an obligation, a burden even....we aren't evil, we just aren't RECEIVING the full package of love God has in it for YOU, too! (Remember, the little ones around your feet or driving your car aren't His only 'babies'! You happen to fit that description as well) We started out in our faith by responding to HIS initiation of love toward us. Likewise, we will only rise to this calling of mommy-hood joyful and spirit-filled only if we see it for what it is: A beckoning to accept His choice in us for this purpose- AND an opportunity to respond to such humbling adoration by raising our little ones in the influence of such awareness!)

Want back up proof? Remember this simple truth. Jesus chose broken, fallen, even desertion-oriented Peter to become the rock upon which His church would be built. He chose simple words in John 21:17: “Feed my sheep” or “Tend my lambs.” But the message was not simple. You know this by experience. The call to shepherd God’s children was not a casual one. It was one requiring absolute dedication and of great urgency to Jesus. One that would involve great obedience, sacrifice and one that was, in fact, not a menial or mundane set of routing tasks, but a sacred trust.

This request, as I see it, was a seal of love between Jesus and Peter- Jesus asking Peter the extent of his love 3 different times, "Peter, do you love me?"- and even in his multiple honest, but certainly not ideal answers, Jesus conceded by providing all the reconciliation for those shortcomings possible. He basically said, I am giving you this precious ‘job’. Do this for me, show me your love for me by loving my children… And likewise, Peter, you have no choice but to see that I love you, WITH all your shortcomings, with your lacking love for me, with your imperfections included. You can see this because I am entrusting to YOU, my most cherished and sacred belongings… In essence, you fail in your love for me, but MY love for you is enough to make up for your 'like' for me.

Does that encourage you as it does me???? Even if you don't FULLY grasp HIS love for you, if you see yourself in your shortcomings with regard to your children, when you have a shorter temper than you'd like or fall short in any of a million ways (that only you are keeping track of.....) Jesus said it to Peter. I trust He says it to us too.

That number one thing that was on His mind then is still monumental in His heart NOW: finding care for his 'sheep'....He entrusted them to Peter even after watching him falter down the ladder of love three times to a final, "Lord, you know I LIKE you....." still, the Lord handed him His most precious of concerns and said, take care of this for me. My translation? I love YOU enough to make up for your like for me. And THAT seal will give you what you need to do this thing I have asked of you. To become a shepherd over my flock.

Call yourself a shepherd this week. In spite of every single flaw you find. He STILL handed these big-eyed, little wonders to you.... Just soak in that for awhile, and scoop up a few "hode joos" while you're at it.


Oh- and tell my YOUR little ones' versions of 'hode joo' if you can. i LOVE 'em!