“Did you call her?”
I shook my head. “No.”
“Mom!” My daughter sounded exasperated.
“I don’t want her to think I’m a hovering, over-protective
mother.” I tried to defend my reasons for not calling our youngest daughter who
had just moved away from home and begun a new career. I’d been anxiously
awaiting a phone call from her telling us how it was going, but had heard
nothing.
“But she won’t think that,” my older and wiser daughter
insisted. “We all love you and we want you to call. If you don’t we think you
don’t love us, that you don’t care.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
I called her that night. She had sent me three text messages
that hadn’t gotten through and was very happy to hear from me. Things were
indeed going well and she was happy to tell me all about it.
This incident made me think about my lack of communication
with God. Sometimes I don't pray because I think my requests are too
insignificant compared to the needs of others. Sometimes I hold back because I
doubt that He has time for me. And sometimes I'm afraid He might even reject
me. After all, I'm a frail and failing human. I know I disappoint Him
continually. How could he possibly love me?
These are the lies the evil one whispers. I am prone to
believe them. But then I read His word, His love letter to me, and the truth draws
me back.
"Consider the ravens: they do not sow or reap, they
have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you
are than birds!" (Luke 12:24).
"Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is
the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of
those who love him and keep his commands" (Deuteronomy 7:9).
"Praise to the Lord, for he showed his wonderful love
to me... (Psalm 31:21).
"Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens, your
faithfulness to the skies" (Psalm 36:5).
"The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you;
he will never leave you nor forsake you. (Deuteronomy 31:8).
Over and over again the scripture tells us that God loves
us, not because of what we have done, or how holy we are, or how beautiful or
how wise, but because we are His children. He is pictured as a bird that
gathers her chicks under its wing, and as a mighty God who sends his angels to stand
guard over us.
And, as all parents who love their children know, He wants
us to come to Him with our heart's cry, to pour out the pain we feel and the joy.
He wants to be part of our lives, to help and to guide. He loves us. Even when
we fail, even when we disappoint, even when we turn away from Him. He loves us.
Period.
"Whoever is wise, let him heed these things and
consider the great love of the Lord" (Psalm 107:43).
****
Marcia Laycock writes from central Alberta Canada where she lives with her pastor husband and two golden retrievers. Visit her website to learn more about her writing/speaking ministry.
3 comments:
Thanks Marcia, you speak to and for me (and Lord knows how many others) here. How easy it is to lose the sense of closeness to our Heavenly Father, when we fill our lives with so many other things that crowd out our spending time with Him.
Your scripture selection is a refreshing tonic for the spiritual life.
~~+~~
It's funny how we let a sort of insecurity slip into our thoughts and hearts so often. I do, especially when it comes to my kids (adult) and even my friends, or acquaintances at church, thinking, "Oh, they're busy, my life has nothing important to talk about, etc..." I'm learning that I'm important, I may be the one nut needed to hold it all together for someone (nut as in bolt and nut, not fruitcake nut... altho there's a place for fruitcake nuts too.) :)
Thanks for your post and reminding us that God loves us no matter how insignificant we think the things in our lives are. It amazes me that God has chosen to create all the huge things in this world from the tiny, the microscopic... atoms, molecules, grains of sand, drops of water... you get the picture. :) God had a reason for doing that. Maybe to show us there is no such thing as too small in his book.
Thanks for your comments. They encouraged me today. :)
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