Write it. Don't write it. Write it. Don't write it.I've been "writing" inside my head for almost twenty years about a particular topic. I have discussed it out loud more than once. And still, today I hesitate to offend someone. Maybe I'll write it and not publish it.
Publish it. Don't publish it...
My eldest is nineteen years old with a grown-up job and a car payment. His brother is eighteen and a full-time college student. I guess I done raised my babies. There are many things you do in the process of parenting, things you'd do for no other reason than you love your kids. Making thirty cupcakes at midnight for a Valentine's Day party comes to mind. And the day we built a model of a molecule out of candy. And going back to school at thirty five to get a degree in something you don't particularly love because it will enable you to send your children to college. Working over-time to pay for braces. You all have your examples.
In my own life, there is one particular thing that I would do for no other reason than I love my kids, even if I didn't feel like doing it. Even when it was hard to do it and I couldn't always see the results. Even when I didn't quite know how to do it. Even if I didn't make those cupcakes or work long hours or build molecules, there is one thing I'd dare not neglect.
I wouldn't dare not giving my kids Jesus.
And the only Jesus I can give my kids is the one who lives in me.
I know many wonderful parents who coach little league and lead Girl Scouts. They love their children. But how do they dare love them in so many ways and take a chance with their eternity? Equally stunning to me, how do they dare to with hold from their kids the wisdom, peace and guidance of a life in Christ?
I know, people don't always believe in Jesus. My question is the same, how do they dare take the chance that they are wrong on behalf of their children?
I know, people find their own style of incorporating religion into their families. How do they dare make Jesus less than everything else?
Are they very brave? They are more brave than I am.
There are people in my own sons' lives who could have had tremendous Godly influence on them and chose not to. They chose to pursue their own agendas and preoccupations. Daboyz could have had one or two or ten more people in their lives whom they loved and trusted to reinforce the love of Jesus in their lives. But they did not take advantage of the privilege of this love of little children to speak eternity into their hearts. I believe someday they will mourn this lost opportunity.
I am so thankful for those who did sing Jesus into their newborn ears. Who prayed over them out loud when they were sick. Who talked to them of redemption and grace and holiness. How grateful I am.
Write it or don't write it? I don't know which is smarter. I think I'd better write it. To remind us all of how very brave we are if we don't speak Jesus over our little ones. We can be very brave and very stupid at the same time you know.
Mark 9:42 And if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to be thrown into the sea with a large millstone tied around his neck.
6 comments:
again - upon reading your writing - I'm crying.
This is a MOST AWESOME post!!!
I did my best to give my sons Jesus when they were a bit younger. Considering I didn't come to faith in Christ until I was almost 32, I missed giving them Jesus the first years of their lives. I hate myself for that, because by the time your boys are 10 and 11 they're not too keen on Jesus and church and all that stuff. I made them go to church with me and I've been told I was wrong to do that. My husband wasn't going to church and the boys would often throw that into my face saying "Why do we have to go it he doesn't?"
As young teens, when they did go, they were looked at as if they were outcasts because they had long hair and that wasn't cool with some of the older folk at church. Even the youth group didn't make them feel welcome so they stopped going altogether when they reached their mid-teens. It hurt me deeply that this happened in a church where I felt I would be a member forever.
My sons are 37 & 36 years old now and tell me they've asked the Lord into their hearts. They know the difference between right and wrong but they don't darken the doors of our church or any others. It hurts my heart to know I've failed in this area, but I must trust God to do what only He can do! I may not see the desires of my heart granted while I live on this earth, but I pray that one day, I will see my sons and their wives and their daughters enter heaven to be with me forever.
For those of you who've done as Sara has done, God bless you! You were given a gift of time and wisdom and you used it well. Be grateful! For others who may be like me, let's hang on to God's truths and promises and pray for our loved ones with a new found zeal. Let's show our loved ones our faith by our words and our deeds. Let's let our lights shine and never cease telling them of God's goodness and mercy to a lost and dying world.
I LOVED this post!
Thank you for being so bold in the Lord that you did write it and did post it!
When they get older it really comes down to their decision, He doesn't have grandkids. ALL we can do is keep praying for them and doing what The Lord tells us to do, be the best living, real testimonies we can be... but BE REAL, not phoney... that turns them off. We are ALL human, none perfect, and we must remember to walk in love as love covers a multitude of sin.. theirs AND OURS.
So glad you decided to post it. Even more glad you decided to live and teach it.
Stupendous Sara.
Salt and light that 's what we are called to be.Your sons are blessed.
PS Somehow i had the impression that your kids were babies.
I don 't want to appear pompous and blow my own trumpet but i was the first one in my family to receive Christ at age 12, up untill then everybody was a God-fearing, church-going nominal Chriatian. After that my immediate relatives also gave their lives to Christ.
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