The discipling break throughs I see at our table, in the garden, on the court, in the stores, on the fields… tend to happen at very messy times. The times when I’m most unsettled by the chaos, the times when I feel at my wits end, these are the times when God often reveals Himself. Perhaps it’s my inability to control the situation and manage it? Seems this may be one of the primary reasons for these wits end moments---at the end of ourselves we find God.
One day this summer after our regular quiet time (everyone separates in our house for an hour a day to spend time alone) I began to hound Wyatt about the disaster he had left his bedroom. I began to recount the list of things he should have done before leaving his room from quiet time and I was hot. My foot was still aching from the matchbox car that had left its imprint on my heel. Walking through the room picking up item after item with him I asked, repeatedly and with mounting impatience, ‘where does this go?’. The customary ‘this is all going in the Goodwill bag if it’s not cleaned up’ threats were thrown in for good measure. In the midst of my frustration I stumbled upon a piece of paper full of writing.
“What’s this,” I asked. “Oh, that’s my song I wrote to God at quiet time,” Wyatt replied non-chalantly. I stopped dead in my tracks and asked him to read me the song, (the pic above is the 2nd version he wrote as we lost the first).
“The plower fo the Lowd” (The Power of the Lord)
“hole god, the god is my god.
no won will take me away from god.
And I men nobodi.”
“Wow that’s a beautiful song Wyatt! What made you decide to want to write that?” I asked feeling all the frustration slip away in light of eternal truths my 6 year old was teaching me.
“I don’t know, I was just listening to worship music on my i-pod and hearing those songs made me want to write one to God,” he explained.
Wow---- so many thoughts raced through my mind. First, I was so focused on the temporary mess that was unsettling me I almost missed the eternal lesson God was writing on Wyatt’s heart. He was pulling Wyatt closer to Himself but all I had seen was the mess. Kind of like Peter, I was taking my eyes off the Lord and watching the distracting waves and then wondering why I was sinking!
Next I asked myself how carefully I had considered the music selections I put on his i-pod. It was very obvious to me how much was sinking in from the messages of the music and I hadn’t really considered that when I put the music on.
I’ve since learned from Wyatt’s teacher, that lacking a piece of paper, he wrote this song again on a tissue at school to give to a friend. Something tells me if there’s art on the walls of our mansions in heaven, this will be one of the pieces! Can’t you just imagine it---a scrap of tissue with a praise song written on it! Wow---the grin that must have brought to God’s face!
Does this simple act of devotion and love of God pouring from a little boy guarantee he won’t make any really bad decisions the rest of the month, week, day? Hardlly! Again, that was another pipe dream I had to relinquish from my internal chest of hopes and dreams for my boys. In fact, it almost seems just the opposite. On days when the love of Jesus just pours from my boys in an act that causes my heart to soar, it most certainly can be guaranteed that my son will also do something within that very day, perhaps hour that sends me seeking sand to bury my head and hide. Hum, now that I think about it, I’m pretty much the exact same way! Seems God’s in favor of keeping it real more than I am!
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