8.12.12 Children... kindergarten to college...

Bountiful Blessings

August 12^th, 2012

Good morning.  I hope this letter finds you well. J I was thinking. Yep, there she goes again. Blowing a fuse. Lately, I have empathized with friends about children heading to kindergarten and teenagers heading to college. Well, my heart aches with you. I watched my little one with her short and sassy haircut, her colorful backpack and her ear-to-ear smile heading out the door to kindergarten. I watched my teenager with the tilted head and the snarl head out the door to middle school, the  teenager with the band tshirts and Hot Topic pants head out the door reluctantly to high school – a new, unchartered area. And then my little caterpillar bloomed into a beautiful butterfly as she headed to college with excitement and fear taking turns on her face. Now I watch as my baby, the one I lovingly cradled in my arms, as a grown woman. A woman heading out into the workforce. Seeking her own place in life. Wow.  I think I cried at each and every stage. So, yes, yes, I do understand.

But what I do have difficulty understanding is the absolute strength of Mary. The courage. She bore a child. Raised a child. All the while knowing she would lose a child. She may not have known that she would lose him through his great sacrifice. But she knew that her son was deemed for greatness. That he would leave her behind to pursue a greater calling.

 “While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is my mother and who are my brothers?” And He stretched out His hand toward his disciples and said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Can you imagine? She was quite a woman. A woman filled with love for God. Filled with faith in God.  Filled with confidence in God. She was not perfect. I believe that in private she probably cried and wailed over losing her son even though she knew he was the child of God. She knew he was born to serve. Born to be better than everyone else. Born to be the chosen one.  But Mary was human. She was a mother. Good? Yes. Perfect? No. Am I comparing our children going to school with Jesus heading out to preach? Absolutely not. No, no, no. It was just on my mind and pressing to get out.

Children are a blessing. They bring joy and they bring pain. Happiness and sadness. Pride and disappointment. But the one consistent thing is love. And yes, children are meant to grow and move on. If I could keep mine all safely wrapped within my arms, I would.  But what a disservice to her and to everyone else. That they cannot see and share her love, her thoughtfulness, her strength, her humor and her kindness. God meant for us to nurture and teach our children and then allow them to soar on their own wings. Today, I ask you to let your child soar. Kindergarten to college. Embrace the time that you have with him or her. Oh, ok, so crying is ok. But don’t do it around them. They hate that. Trust me.

Prayer for the week:

Dear Lord, help me to be the best parent I can be. Help me to hold on when I need to and to let go when I need to. Give me the strength, the patience and the right words to teach my child so that he or she may grow up as a child of God.  In Jesus’s name, Amen.

Bible Verse for the week:

“Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it”

Bible Fun for the week:

Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to answer this question: According to the 14th chapter of Judges, what ferocious animal did Samson kill with his bare hands? Answer: (One word, four letters)

2. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to answer this question: What was the name of the judge of Israel who, according to 1 Samuel 1:12-13, thought Hannah, the mother of Samuel, was drunk when she was praying fervently to the LORD? Answer: (One word, three letters)

3. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the missing word from Psalm 48:2 in the NKJV: "Beautiful in __________, The joy of the whole earth, Is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, The city of the great King." Answer: (One word, nine letters, starts with letter 'E')

4. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the blank from the missing word which appears twice in John 6:55 and quotes Jesus, as per the NIV Bible: "For my flesh is _____ food and my blood is ______ drink." Answer: (One word, four letters)

5. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the blank from the missing word which appears in Jude 1:12, as per the NKJV Bible: "These are spots in your love feasts, while they feast with you without fear, serving only themselves. They are clouds without water, carried about by the winds; ______ autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, pulled up by the roots." Answer: (One word, four letters)

6. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to answer the following question: In Genesis 24:65, in both the NIV and the NKJV, what did Rebekah cover herself with when she first saw her future husband Isaac? Answer: (One word, four letters)

7. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the missing word from Jeremiah 52:34 in the NKJV Bible that makes reference to Jehoiachin, a captured king of Judah: "And as for his provisions, there was a regular _______ given him by the king of Babylon, a portion for each day until the day of his death, all the days of his life." Answer: (One word, six letters, starts with letter 'R')

8. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the missing word from Genesis 2:9 in the NIV Bible: "The LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground-trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and _____." Answer: (One word, four letters)

9. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the missing word from Matthew 11:27 in NKJV: "All things have been delivered to Me by My Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father. Nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and the one to whom the Son wills to ______ Him." Answer: (One word, six letters, starts with letter 'R')

10. Unscramble the letters from REVELATION to fill in the missing word from Revelation 21:4 in the NKJV: "And God will wipe away every _____ from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away." Answer: (One word, four letters)