How do you figure out #ParentingThroughCovid19 and where is God in all of this? Is #SimpleFaith enough? Sharing my thoughts from a Christian point of view.
Wait a second! Did someone say “simple” faith? Ugh, Really?
What an UNcomfortable and UNfamiliar concept for our buzzing, dinging and clicking-comforted world. “Simple” sounds too ineffective for us in this age of information where our smartphones hugs hips like a security blanket, granting our trigger-ready thumbs 24-7 access to that fuzzy ball of Google stored right in our back pockets. We want our questions answered not just INSTANTLY but ALREADY, like Yesterday. No waiting or faith required.
But, what if God’s not impressed with the shiny perfectionism we think we need to raise our kids and change the world through our own personal sense of awesome?
Have you ever wondering why you're not seeing more mountains moved? Could it be that in our complex world and complicated lives, we assume that things should be as we understand it from our teeny tiny but, of course, very shiny educated point of view.
But, what if the VERY FIRST mountains God really wants us to move are the ones that are staring us smack in the face, right there on the INSIDE of us?
I don't know about you, but each day I am finding more dirt and stones in my mindset that just need to be chiseled away. Oh, how I love it when there's an atomic truth bomb that demolishes a block in my understanding. It's so freeing to encounter the truth and let's not forget that the TRUTH is also person. But some mountains, piled on top of deep wounds and harsh experiences, take longer, pebbles at a time. Mindsets of small thinking, self preservation, independence, fear of man, pride--like thinking my view is the right one--and temporal thinking instead of an eternal perspective . . . Should I go on?
Doesn’t scripture say, He chooses the foolish things of the world to confound the wise. And that man looks at the outward appearance of things, but God looks at the heart? And all we have to do is TRUST in Him and he will make the way straight. And better yet, if we abide in Him, as in remain with Him, we will bear fruit that remains. #RelationshipOverReligion. Sigh.
Could there be a much higher way of coping my way through #QuarantineLife and #Covid19CrisisSchooling? And how do I get there? What Jesus preached and displayed looked quite different. It was almost as foreign as, well, walking on water, raising a dead man or dying on a cross.
Jesus’ message was very simple: Believe in him. #simplefaith. So why do I complicate it?
And from that we can gain a few simple steps: Follow him. Love God. Love people. Have faith like a child. Abide in him & bear eternal fruit. Hmmm. Sounds like world record making. But surely it can’t be that simple. Really?
But wait a minute. Isn’t simple faith also having faith like a child?
Like a child? Another poke at my pride: Children DON’T have degrees. Children don’t have all the experience we adults have to conquer the world. Children will believe anything! Children don’t think or delay before they do. They just do it. Faith like a child? Really?
I don’t know about your children, but mine required me to have poison control on speed dial. Children are dangerous. Extremely dangerous! Ooooooh. Light bulb: Simple faith like a child. Like, I get it now. Childlike faith = Dangerous faith. Very. Dangerous. Simple. Faith. Not easy faith. But simple DANGEROUS Faith.
So what is simple faith?
Simple faith is dangerous faith. The pure kind of faith that turns OFF the iphone in the midst of a crisis. Shuts OFF the buzzing news notifications, and shushes the mass tweets, dings and vibrating watches. The kind of simple faith that welcomes silence to tune out the noise so one can tune into the whispering voice of the Great I AM.
Simple Dangerous faith doesn’t look outward. It looks upward. It beholds the living, breathing face of Jesus. And encounters Jesus. Not merely the historic Jesus between the pages of the bible, but the living, breathing, Risen, all powerful, omnipotent, loving, kind, and ever-present Jesus, who is ever living and changes EVERYTHING.
Simple faith brings ENCOUNTERS with God. Simple faith kneels down smack center in the raging storm and cries out, “God, I don’t know what I’m doing. But I know who I’m with. I don’t know how to get there. But YOU are the destination. You are the way, the truth and the life. So take over. I surrender. Here I am. Help me. Use me. Do what only you can do through me. And get all the glory for this story.”
Simple faith is heard from Heaven! Simple faith attracts and ignites an electric current between heaven and earth like a lightning rod. And sometimes, simple faith is seen like flashes of piercing rods through the darkness, while other times it is felt like vibrations of thunder stinging through the silence.
Simple faith is what Jesus described when he said faith the mere size of a mustard seed actually has the potency to provoke heaven and disrupt mountains. What was He trying to show us that we're still missing?
Life has mountains. Some are absolutely TERRIFYING. We are called to be MOUNTAIN MOVERS accessing the door that begins with a simple yes. A yes to believing. A yes to being his child. A yes to His invitation for relationship. That is why a simple yes, and simple faith moves the heart of God.
Simple faith doesn’t mean the journey is easy. In fact, there’s certainly nothing easy about giving birth in a barn while fleeing for your life! Or ANY of the life stories of ANY History Maker EVER.
Simple does not mean easy, but it does mean childlike. Think about that: Little Children don't go anywhere without their parents. And ESPECIALLY when little children travel or pass through dangerous or foreign places, they are required to hold their parents hand. I think we would most all agree that navigating through a global pandemic, including parenting, crisis schooling would count as traveling through a dangerous and foreign territory.
So maybe our question should be, not how strong or simple is your faith. But how tightly are you holding your Heavenly Father's Hand?
What if simple faith isn't anything what we thought is should be? What if it's not just showing up to a meeting or trying to meet with God during a designated amount of time during a day?
I believe God is good all the time. I believe his ways are higher than ours. And I don't believe he has caused this shaking we are currently seeing around us. But I do believe if we trust in Him, we will find that he can help turn the shaking into DESTINY MAKING. #WithJesusNoTrialWasted #ShakingforDestinyMaking
All I know is in the journey, we can actually learn something from our own children. Do what children do best, hold onto and squeeze their big daddy's hand. Or better yet, ask for a ride on His shoulders.
I think as we learn to do this better, the more mountains will be shifted on the inside of us and the more effective we will be not just as parents but at everything in our lives. So, give yourself permission to not have all the answers. Stop trying to be perfect. Stop needing to have an explanation for everything you don't understand. You have permission to make mistakes. Learn from them. Get back up. After all, you are God's child.
So, close your eyes. See that, you have never been alone.
Lean back into His arms.
And hold your Heavenly Father's hand. Or better yet.
Ask for a ride on His shoulders. And as you do, just imagine how your children will be impacted watching. #LearningByExample #ChildrenAreAlwaysWatching #LiveFree #ParentingThroughCovid19
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 11:28-30
Comments