The kids and I were at my parents cabin on the lake this
summer. We were taking a slow boat ride
around the lake when my daughter noticed that the grass on one side of the lake
was greener than on the other side. And
in total seriousness she said, “Hmm… I guess it is true…the grass is greener
on the other side.” Then my son
said, “They must water it more.”
My parents and I could hardly contain ourselves; we were in
tears we were laughing so hard. My kids
were staring at us like we were crazy.
But it sure made for a memorable moment; one that I can go back too over
and over again and still laugh about.
I started a list a while back where I write down all these
little things. It is not a long
list. It could be longer if I would
have started it when they were younger and if I were better at that kind of
thing. I am the mom who never remembers
the camera, has barely any pictures, and doesn’t scrapbook what I have. So, just like pictures my list gets
forgotten sometimes too.
But on those nights when I am not sure if I want to pull my
own hair out or my kids, that list does not get forgotten. I can sit down and those few little words
take me back and I see my kids through a new set of eyes. Ones that are not clouded by my frustration
or irritability but instead are full of love, laughs, and tenderness. It’s like watching them sleep.
I am also reminded that God sees me differently. He sees me through the blood of my Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ. And friend, that
makes me so grateful because without Jesus it is ugly. I am reminded of Isaiah 43:24-25:
“You have not brought me fragrant calamus or pleased me
with the fat from sacrifices. Instead,
you have burdened me with your sins and wearied me with your faults. I – yes I alone – will blot out your sins
for my sake and will never think of them again.”
Oh, what mercies the Father has lavished upon me. I wonder what He sees when he looks at me
through the blood of Christ, with all my sin blotted out never to be thought of
again. Is it the list? Just the beautiful moments that I see when I
look at that list I have made for my kids.
I don’t know. But I pray that
God would fill me with a love like His so that I can have the kind of mercy for
my kids that He has had for me.
"Mercy is
God's supply system for every need everywhere. Mercy is that kindness,
compassion and tenderness,
which is a passion to suffer with, or participate in, another's ills or evils
in order to relieve, heal and restore. It accepts another freely and gladly AS
he is and supplies the needed good of life to build up and to bring to peace
and keep in peace. It is to take another into one's heart JUST AS HE IS and
cherish and nourish him there. Mercy takes another's sins and evils and faults
as its own, and frees the other by bearing them to God. This is the
Glow-of-love. This is the ANOINTING."
(Rex
B. Andrews)
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