Investing

My daughter is reaching an age where we are starting to talk about spiritual things and dive into Truths. And I am very excited! Yesterday we stopped at the beach after work to enjoy the first rays of sunshine in a few weeks. It turned into a lovely afternoon of soaking up some vitamin D. She made fast friends with some girls and was on her way to laughter and play. Amidst her new friends and hardy play, she kept hollering back to me and asking if I saw her. I have noticed a pattern of her constant need of approval and attention. She loves gymnastics and doing all kinds of cartwheels and roundoffs and she has a new fascination with all things handstand. But again, she wants to know that I see every single one of them. And she can pull off about 3 handstands a minute. That turns out to be a lot. We have had conversations about gymnastics being a serious sport and that she must absolutely love the sport and all that it entails more than being watched or she won’t succeed. Because to be good at gymnastics requires an immense amount of training.

So, this morning as I was praying for her, I was asking the Lord that she would know Him intimately, that she would know that He is the Lover of her soul, that He delights in all of her and that He sees everything she does, that she would not seek to please people but to please Him. A little later after she had finished her devotions and was recapping them for me, she said: I should know that God is with me all the time. She had read about Rahab and the walls of Jericho. And then she personalized it by saying that when she has bad dreams (as she had last night) she doesn’t have to be afraid. And of course, I affirmed that and then broke down 1 John 4:4 He who is in you (God) is greater than he (Satan) that is in the world. And in her childlike inquisitiveness she beautifully asked: So, there are 8 billion gods? And I in my adult logic didn’t really understand and so I must have had quite a look on my face because she said: there’s 8 billion people. And I had an aha moment. Then we spoke about God being One God, in 3 persons and how it’s the same Holy Spirit that dwells in each of our temples.

I so enjoy these moments of teaching Truths in every day setting. It is a serious call to raise our children in the ways of the Lord. Some days I get in my own way and other days I feel victorious. Today I count as a win!