Thought For Today

I am so glad that you have found this site and I hope you will find encouragement and joy as you read through my thoughts on God, family and life.

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Trusting God


Trusting God 

We wait for the storm to pass when we see all things more clearly, in God's light.
Doesn’t it seem at times that the days go by very quickly?  One thing after another leads to a full day of events.  After a while, if one looks back at the year, we wonder where it went.  When looking to the past, one year seems to blend with all the others.  First, 5 years and then 10, and soon twenty years have passed and it becomes hard to pinpoint the different events that made up all those seasons of our lives.  We celebrate birthdays, weddings, and one day when we least expect it, funerals are a part of our schedule as well.  Life is but a breath King David of Israel once said.  When I first read that passage, I was in my 20s and I thought that David must have been wrong.  “I have a lifetime of ‘stuff’ ahead of me.”  Now looking back I see that what David had said was so true, life does pass too quickly. 

Old Railroad Inn in Jackson, Minnesota
I have come to realize that it is not the years that a man lives that make him wise, it is in “how” he lives that results in wisdom gained.  I can look back and see that I have made many mistakes in my life.  Am I wise?  I cannot say for sure, I think it must be left for others to determine that.  I am reminded of my father who once told me, “Making mistakes is a part of being human, but how you learn from those same mistakes is the beginning of regret, or the road to wisdom.”  I have to say that in some cases I have regret in my life, while yet in others, they have been very much learning events for me.   Either way, most are ones that I do not wish to repeat.  Life though is made up of these experiences that we go through. 

Anne, Abby and Will at the Whitewater State Park
Perhaps one never learns more than when teaching your own children how to make right choices.  Every parent wants for their child to not have to go through the difficulties that they themselves have experienced, but in some cases we have to let our children go and give them over to God, especially when they are grown and our influence is least felt.  As a child grows though, we hope to find that what we have taught them, allows for more independence with every right choice that they make.  We then eventually find that our children are a reflection of who we are, and that can bring with it some regret and/or pride. 

The home where I grew up.
In our limited wisdom we at times come to realize that some things are beyond our abilities, and we must admit that we are helpless to effect change. The one medium that we as parents do not do as often as we should, is to pray for our children.  God though knows what is needed for each child even before we as parents ask of him.  (Matthew 6:8)  He does want us to ask though.  God hears our prayers and he answers those requests in the time that ‘he’ determines that will help our child the most.  I encourage you as a parent to be patient, and trust God to do his work.  (Psalms 37:5)