We'll All Be Princesses

My little Kingdom Watchers have been on a tear recently.

Little Sister refused to say her prayers one night. She LOVES to pray, and she always includes everyone we know, "the good people, the bad people and the whole world, the trees and the sky. And the flowers." But tonight she was really put out about something.

"Why don't you want to pray?" I asked, puzzled.

"Because I keep asking for the same thing but I never get it. I think God may get mad at me for asking for the same thing over and over."

"What are you asking for?"

I'm thinking, I'll bet it's a puppy. Oh Lord, how am I going to get out of this?

"I want God to come and bring His Kingdom on Earth and get rid of all the sin and make everyone perfect. Right now."

Blown. Away.

Now this kid is a prayer warrior. She has prayed some mighty prayers that I have seen God choose to answer. So, I'm kind of refraining from saying what I want to say, which is - "Do you know what you're praying for?? Ever heard of the Apocalypse?! Quit it!"

But instead, the Holy Spirit moves me to encourage her. To praise her persistence and to acknowledge that God has placed a strong desire in her to pray for this huge thing. He has promised us that it's going to happen. We just don't know when.

So she says, "How is He ever going to do it if He keeps making all these new people who have never heard of Him?"

"Well, honey, I don't know except that He's also making people like you who are going to tell the new people about Him."

A few days later, Big Sister expresses the same sentiment - she too is ready for the Kingdom to come and for everything to be made perfect. Wow, this is really a "thing" for these kids, the desire, the longing, for perfection and the absence of sin. I guess, as a jaded adult, I long ago made peace with the fact that life is far from perfect. Apparently, at some point, I gave up hope that it ever would be or could be. We call that being a "realist," no?

At the time, I was reading a book called "The Prayer Experiment" by Margaret Therkelson. She breaks down the Lord's Prayer, and I happened to be reading the part - Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth as it is in Heaven.
The author touches on two things that I was eager to share with Little Sis. First, the Kingdom is already here! It's inside us, according to Christ. Second, the Kingdom comes through our prayers.

...the heart yearning prayers of the Holy Spirit welling up in our times of prayer...a longing so overwhelming, so passionately powerful, so wistfully crying out for God's Kingdom to come to this broken world. Truly the entire creation is in pain even as we groan within ourselves for Jesus to come and set up His Kingdom here. At times in prayer we are nearly overcome with yearning for Jesus to come! These inexpressible, but powerful prayers are a means of praying in the Kingdom.

Wow. So by their wistful, longing prayers, they are actually praying in th Kingdom. My kids. MY kids. I'm gonna have to take a minute.

Where is He?

It was my desire, when I became a mother, that God should be part of my children's daily lives and conversations. I had no idea how to accomplish that really, as He was still not part of my own daily life and conversations.

One thing I used to do with Big Sister was take her to the window in the mornings after lifting her from her crib. I would open the blinds and say, "Look at the beautiful day God has made for us." One time, she began to peer out into the yard. She said, "Wheah is he? I not see him out dere." I pointed to her little chest and said, "He's in your heart." At which point, my very literal child pulled her shirt out and looked down. "Wheah?"

Of course, we have the usual suspects when we're trying to incorporate faith into our daily lives. Going to Sunday School (one hour out of 168). The prayer at mealtimes (often neglected). The prayer at bedtimes (often rote).

I think for little guys, it seems to work best if you yourself are constantly on the lookout for God in the details. They are discovering the world around them - point out how wonderfully God made that puppy they love or the creek they are splashing in. When they're hurt, pray out loud that God will heal them and take away the pain. If it's their feelings that are hurt, pray for the Holy Spirit to comfort them. As mine have gotten older, I've often been slapped in the face with a problem that I've looked at every which way and still cannot solve. Then I hear a little voice saying, "Mom, let's just pray about it." Duh, why didn't I think of that??

I can be reticient about praying with them for their little hurts and needs. I sometimes think, What if it doesn't work out? What if God doesn't answer, and it shakes their faith? I am learning to leave that entirely up to God...He knows better what they need and how they need to receive it. He's made promises to us, and as I meditate on them (sometimes clinging to them for dear life), He reminds me that He always keeps His promises, not  just to me but to them as well. He also shows me what He's made of when I'm allowed to witness answers to their sweet prayers. I've seen pain lessened, ouchies healed, feelings soothed and Comfort dispensed.

These are the ordinary miracles of being a mother.

What are some ways you see God in the details of your child's life? How do you invite Him into your daily lives?

Comments are always welcome!

The Time I Took Away Her Bible

Sometimes school is a hard place to be. Our kids can be mean to each other - no surprise to any mother who was once a kid herself. They are also highly invested in justice, which makes it tough to navigate the waters sometimes. You want to advise them to just stay out of things, but then again, you admire their chutzpah.

Little Sister is a compassionate little kid. Don't know where she got it. She was just made that way. In first grade, her teacher once contacted me to tell us they had run tornado drills in class, the ones where they're taught to crawl under their desks and cover their heads. Afterward, Little Sister had a question. "Where will you be, Teacher? How are you going to stay safe from the tornado?" Teacher said she'd never been asked that question before.

Since she could speak, Little Sister has inspected all of us for cuts, scrapes, bruises or bandaids. If she found any, she'd pat us and say, "Awwwww." She is also the one in our house who comforts anyone who is crying, including me, and she often tells us how lucky she is to be in our family.  Pretty cool for 7. She also has a temper like a house of fire, but that's a story for another day.

So, back to the shark-infested waters of elementary school. One morning, she seemed particularly disturbed about something that was going on. She surreptitiously snagged Big Sister's Bible, of which Little Sister has pretty much taken over the payments, and slipped it into her backpack. For some reason, I was seized by the need to take it out. The bus was feeling dangerous, somehow. I could just see someone picking on her over whipping out her Bible to deal with whatever reprobate was not acting right, in her oh-so-humble opinion. Those words mean so much to her. It made me a little sick to think of anyone criticizing her faith. She argued, but in the end, I "won." I felt bad about it all day. 

Later, we were on our way to the grocery store. Little Sister was happily reading her Bible in the backseat. When I opened the door to let her out of the van, she looked at me with a little twinkle in her eye. "Mom, look at the cover," she said. "It says 'Backpack Bible.' It wants to be in my backpack."

I've never taken it out again.

How do you encourage your child to take his problems to God? Do you need encouragement yourself?

Comments are always welcome.

Follow the Leader

As I prepared to go to Kenya on a mission trip last summer, our team met one last time to pack. It was summer in Atlanta. The air outside was sticky and heavy, and we wore shorts and flip flops. The seasons are opposite in Kenya, and it was hard to believe that in a few days we'd happily be distributing fleece hoodies and thick cardigan sweaters to our African kids.

One of our team leaders ticked off a list of things we should remember to pack. She said to write a short testimony and be prepared to give it in front of a Kenyan church if asked. Okaaayyy. Public speaking. Talking about my faith. Out loud. In front of other people. In front of the church. Suddenly, my mouth was dry and my mind locked in on a brand new reason to freak out about the trip.

You would think I'd have anticipated that I'd be talking about my faith, seeing as how I was going on a MISSION TRIP and all. But I see myself as a behind-the-scenes kind of girl, hugging children and making cute Bible crafts. Preachers stand up in front of churches and give their testimony. Not I. 

So, dutifully I went home and began pondering the question: What was my testimony?

What God brought to mind was a little girl with silky brown curls, nearing her third birthday. Before laying down for a nap or for bedtime, she is allowed to bring her mama three books to read. Typically, the books are Goodnight Moon, The Big Red Barn and a selection from the incomparable Dr. Suess. Lately though, the white illustrated children's Bible has made its way into the rotation. In fact, some days, it is the only book the little girl wants to read. She always says, "Just one more story, Mommy." This makes the mama happy, as she is committed to raising her daughter in a Christian home. One day, Mama reads the story of Balaam and the talking donkey, and it dawns on her that she has never before heard this one. In fact, there are many stories in the little white Bible that she doesn't know. She also doesn't know the answers to many of the little one's questions, which are being formed more and more articulately and with greater frequency. This makes the mama sad and more than a little ashamed. Yep, that mama is me.

I was raised in a Christian home, married in the Catholic church, baptized, confirmed - I had all the trappings of Christianity - but even so, I didn't know the Bible very well, and although I didn't realize it at the time, I didn't know Christ very well either. Because I wanted Him to be very real to my daughter, because I was desperate to protect her from the evil in the world, I knew I needed to learn more so that I could be her teacher. So that I would be "qualified" to guide her to faith. Soon after, I committed to an in-depth, yearlong Bible study, which was followed by two more just like it. I went into it saying in my private, doubtful heart that I would just approach the study as if I were getting my Ph.D. in Bible. I wouldn't commit to believing one way or another until I acquired all the book knowledge that I thought I needed to lead my child. But, as perhaps often happens, something dramatic took place in the midst of my unbelief and skepticism. I met Jesus.

I am still meeting him -- daily, hourly and minute by minute. I'm so far from where I want to be. I will never be qualified enough to lead my daughters to Christ, but what He shows me is that they are well qualified to lead me.

Jesus said, if we don't approach faith like a little child, we will never see the Kingdom of God.

This is our journey.