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| Abby mini-golfing at Lark Toys near Wabasha, Mn. |
Tonight when I had just got the children ready for bed, my little 6-year-old daughter came up to Anne and myself with a big smile on her face. “Daddy and Mommy, I told William that my heart was sad, and he said that I needed to ask God into my heart and to ask him to forgive me of my sins. We prayed and now my heart is not sad anymore.”
Anne looks over at me after Abby had left and shared that Abby had talked to her the other night about a sad heart. This made me think recently of when Abby had also addressed me with the same concern, just before going to bed. At that time, I remember I had reminded her of the many fun things that we did during the day, and that she should not feel sad, but happy. As parents, we had individually examined the possible reasons for her sadness and were a little perplexed. Her life each day was filled with joy in the things that she said and did. She expressed little unhappiness during these events in her active world. I remember telling her that being tired at the end of the day sometimes made me sad, and that was a sign that I needed sleep. I also related that upon waking in the morning I was much happier.
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| Blowing bubbles. |
Abby would sing and run about with such a joy within her, that it perplexed us as to why she would come and share with us that she was sad. As her parents, it did not occur to us that it was a deep-seated need, on her part to ask God to fill her heart with love and forgiveness. Anne said, “ It took God using our son to help Abby in finding her way out of her sadness.” She was right in her thoughts of course. For myself, I was thinking that Abby had no reason for being unhappy. It did not occur to me to pray with her and ask for God’s leading concerning this issue. It was out of the mouth and faith of a 9-year-old boy that taught his parents, that Christ does in fact have the answers to all of our needs.
As adults, we are constantly bombarded with decisions that we must make for our children throughout each day. I know that God has given us fine minds to reason out the logical course that we must take, that is, in making many of these choices for our children, and for ourselves. But, the balance though is shadowy at times in knowing when to give the decision over to God for him to make, or us to make those choices ourselves.
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| Will quietly observing the rapid waters going by. |
I am just now beginning to see that this balance should not be that difficult, all it means is that we must learn to have listening hearts. Elijah, a great prophet, was hiding out in a mountain because he possessed great fear of those that desired to kill him. It was then that God commanded Elijah to come out of the cave, as he was about to pass by. In the following events that were to take place, Elijah learned how to listen to God, even when being in great distress. What happened next revealed to Elijah that he needed to find God not in outer circumstances, but with a listening heart. A powerful wind had passed by Elijah, and then there was a great earthquake that followed. When these things had transpired, there began a raging fire that followed. (Now if I were Elijah during those moments, I would most certainly have developed very weak knees and my hair probably would have turned white with horror.) Yet the Bible goes on to relate that God was not in any of them. When, I imagine Elijah’s heart had calmed down, he was then able to hear a gentle whisper, and he knew that it was the voice of God speaking to him. (1 Kings 19:11 &13)
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| Gentle Mountain Bluebird in the strong wind. |
Do we let the events of the day block out God’s voice speaking to us? We need to find a hiding place and listen to God’s still voice. Jesus stands at the door of our hearts through out the day, and he gently knocks and waits for us to let him in. (Rev. 3:20) He wants to be involved in our day, in all things that are important to each of us. He desires to be a part of each of our lives and the decisions that we make through out the day. We need to take time, be still, and listen for his voice. He patiently waits for each of us to hear his voice.
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| Abby playing hero coming to the rescue. |
