Sunday Lessons

Today marks a week since Anna came home from the hospital. The week has predictably been full of ups and downs, but she is glad to be home and we are glad to be back together. Mandi was on the job this weekend so today it fell to me to get the girls ready for church this morning. Anna was very nervous about going to church without mom. It took some convincing, but she got on board and came along.

Before the worship service started, a number of friends had invited the girls to sit with them since I was going to be up and down throughout the service. Maggie and Rachel took up one of those offers, but Anna insisted that she wanted to stay with me. She had hoped to help in the nursery this morning, but that did not work out, so she was feeling miserable. I told her that I would love her to stay with me.

She needed a lot of love. Instead of standing during hymns and worship songs, I stayed seated with her, holding her, rubbing her back, and snuggling her under my arm. Slowly her countenance migrated from miserable to sad, from sad to okay, and from okay to good. When the service was over she was smiling again.

My friend and mentor Charlie “Tremendous” Jones, was fond of saying that God did not just give us children so we could teach them, but also gave us to them so they could teach us. I have been learning that this is very true.

As I sat with her tucked under my arm, God began showing me again what it is like for Him to be my Father. Like Anna, I struggle too: things do not always go my way, I see other people getting the things I want, I too often cry out and ask “How long is this going to be? How long do I have to stay here?” My struggles reveal my own brokenness. My longing for what others have exposes my selfish nature. My asking “how long” unearths my distrust in God’s love for me.

Yet despite my brokenness, my selfish nature, and my bouts of lack of trust in God’s love, He is not repulsed by my brokenness. He is not put off by my selfishness, nor is He angered at my lack of trust. As the Psalmist writes in Psalms 103:10-13 (NIV),

He does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him.

As Anna’s struggles, complaints, and impatience just made me want to hold her tighter, to speak softly of my love to her, and to comfort her, God is no less a Father to her or to me. As surely as I was holding her, God was showing me, He was holding both of us, and He would continue to hold us and carry us until He comes or calls us home.

Deuteronomy 1:31 says that God carries His people like a father carries his son. I am grateful for such a faithful Father who graciously and patiently puts up with me. May I love my children with that same love. May I love His people with the same grace. May I love my neighbor with the same patience and compassion He shows me every hour of every day.