"The must seem to mislead the child and the Master the dog. They misread the signs. Their ignorance and their wishes twist everything.You are so sure you know what the the promise promised! And the danger is that when what He means by 'wind' appears you will ignore it b/c it is not what you thought it would be-as He Himself was rejected b/c He was not like the Messiah the Jews had in mind. But I am, I fancy, repeating things I said before. I look forward very much to our meeting again" (A Severe Mercy)
I love this letter from CS Lewis to Sheldon Vanauken b/c as Ken and I learn to parent we are learning about how the Lord "parents" us. What we think is the best for us, b/c for some reason we think we are the experts on ourselves, we are appalled when the Lord has a better plan. And even more appalled when we think we know the promise. Not unlike Jake who throws temper tantrums b/c he has to put on his boots for the snow... to go out to swim lessons but then once he gets to the pool is delighted in the fact he put on the boots to leave!
Or when he refuses to sit in his chair for lunch and gets the warning he can either sit in his chair or sit in time out. But once again is delighted when he choses the chair and gets to eat (one of his favorite things to do).
Ken and I were so sad when for years could not concieve, down right angry with God but years later delighted in we recieved or concieved our gift of Jake.
My hope for our family, especially Jake, that he will do this better than both Ken and I that he will learn that in God's service is perfect freedom. That obeying Him is his free choice but also freedom.
B/c "all that is not God is death" (MacDonald) Which is very different than what the world tries to teach us, that God is death, he is constraining, law abiding, not fun ... you all know what I mean.
So in parenting my hope and prayer is that eventually we will engage Jake in communication with the Lord who a much better parent!
I have so much in my head about all of this that I can't put more "words" to it right now but hope to in the weeks/months/years to come!
3 comments:
Such great words, Debbie. Justin and I have experienced this so much in parenting. Also, just have to say one of my all-time fave books is A Severe Mercy - I think I'm going to have to read it again. (I especially love Lewis' letters on time and how quickly it passes.) Have a great weekend!
you said you liked to be surprised... and this is one of the backgrounds you said you liked (i think!) ...it was tough to stay away from anything pink or with flowers!!:) Just having fun with you- I think we need little surprises like this in our lives! This is supposed to be fun right?? xoxo :) ms
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