I just heard "Your Grace Is Enough"....Remember that song?
"You wrestle with the sinner's heart..."
I sometimes feel like I wrestle with my children. With their hearts, really. That's why parenting is so tiring. it's not fighting: I'm not out to kill or conquer. I wrestle their hearts to where they're receiving the teaching I'm trying to give.
I suddenly saw myself, wrestling to get their hearts in a place where they were hearing me. Calming the upset and impassioned, riling and rebuking the slothful, reprimanding the mean and spiteful, and punishing the liar. It looks a little different every time, and that is, perhaps, why it is the MOST exhausting task. You simply cannot just stick with one type of disciplining methodology. You have to read them, be inspired by the Holy Spirit with words of correction, win them, and forgive them...and you have to teach them how to forgive and love each other better than you love and forgive your own friends. And then, I kind-of see how God does this with us. You know, almost any parenting experience you have can compare to God's relationship to us.
But mostly what struck me is--when I see myself wrestling.....I know what is driving me to pursue them is a desire to see them still connected to me by the time I'm done talking. CONNECT. Like a Hitch on a trailer. *CLICK* And I'm pretty much willing to stand on my head to make sure that they're doing that.
How much more our Father desires to wrestle our hearts into a place of connection. Repentance, Receiving, and Forgiveness. Made-Right-ness.
As much as I am willing to wear myself out wrestling my children's hearts to a place of receiving my teaching and forgiveness, so much more God wrestles with our hearts.... wanting to see us look to Him and "tap-out."
There. That's my Lofty Insight for today.
You're welcome.
"You wrestle with the sinner's heart..."
I sometimes feel like I wrestle with my children. With their hearts, really. That's why parenting is so tiring. it's not fighting: I'm not out to kill or conquer. I wrestle their hearts to where they're receiving the teaching I'm trying to give.
I suddenly saw myself, wrestling to get their hearts in a place where they were hearing me. Calming the upset and impassioned, riling and rebuking the slothful, reprimanding the mean and spiteful, and punishing the liar. It looks a little different every time, and that is, perhaps, why it is the MOST exhausting task. You simply cannot just stick with one type of disciplining methodology. You have to read them, be inspired by the Holy Spirit with words of correction, win them, and forgive them...and you have to teach them how to forgive and love each other better than you love and forgive your own friends. And then, I kind-of see how God does this with us. You know, almost any parenting experience you have can compare to God's relationship to us.
But mostly what struck me is--when I see myself wrestling.....I know what is driving me to pursue them is a desire to see them still connected to me by the time I'm done talking. CONNECT. Like a Hitch on a trailer. *CLICK* And I'm pretty much willing to stand on my head to make sure that they're doing that.
How much more our Father desires to wrestle our hearts into a place of connection. Repentance, Receiving, and Forgiveness. Made-Right-ness.
As much as I am willing to wear myself out wrestling my children's hearts to a place of receiving my teaching and forgiveness, so much more God wrestles with our hearts.... wanting to see us look to Him and "tap-out."
There. That's my Lofty Insight for today.
You're welcome.
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