Life as a Moment

I attended a beautiful high school graduation party recently.  Another reminder that the lives of children slip away so quickly.  Karissa asks me longingly, “When will I be four?”  Things that take so long for children—two whole seasons of the year—seem so fleeting from my adulthood vantage point.

It reminds me of these verses:  “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.  While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.”

Thinking of how for a child three whole days until daddy’s birthday seems an interminable wait helps me when I’m struggling with the here and now.  I watch my friends and family take on difficult, seemingly unending battles.  I want to fix things.  NOW.  But now is not forever.  These things are so . . . temporal.  Looking back, it will not even seem long.  God our Father looks down knowingly on His children as we chafe at the slowness of time.

When I was a kid and we were only allowed to have two cookies, we watched my dad eat three.  My mom said that when we grew up we could eat as many cookies as we want.  I’m in my 30s now, and do you know?  She was right!

Heaven will be much more precious to us than unlimited cookies, and my friends, it will be worth the wait.  Look forward, for there is a blessed hope and glorious appearing waiting for us.  After all, this life truly is “but for a moment.”

The Talking Card

Sunday morning I was listening to three-year-old Karissa dictate the message that I was writing in her Father’s Day card. 

“Is this card going to talk to Daddy?” she asked. 

“Yes,” I responded. 

“Hey—that’s like God talking to us!  In the Bible!”

No Other Way

My second grade teacher drilled a definition of obedience into my head that I can still quote today: “Obedience is doing what you’re told to do, when you’re told to do it, with the right heart attitude.”  There is a lot of truth to that definition, and I’ve found myself explaining it to more than one child in my life.  But the truth that is hidden, buried perhaps in the last phrase, is the motive for obedience.  Trust.  The hymn chorus goes thus, “Trust and obey, for there’s no other way/ To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

So when my husband was disappointed in our daughter’s disobedience the other day, I found it interesting that his main sadness was in her inability to trust him.  And I began pondering the relationship between trust and obedience.  Sometimes we know (or think we’ve figured out) why we are asked to do something.  When we “know why” it seems easier to obey.  Maybe because trust is being transferred from the one giving instructions to our own reason.  But without trust, it is impossible to obey.  Without trust, whether to follow instructions becomes a choice, not obedience.  And obedience proves love.

I spent a summer babysitting a 9-year-old boy and his two younger sisters.  I still remember his mom explaining to me that he was much more willing to obey when he knew the reason for the instruction.  Her advice made so much sense.  If I could tell him the reason, I certainly would.  I know firsthand that I like to know the “why” of a requirement.  Conversely, he had to know that if I could not tell him the reason (whether I didn’t have time, or it was too complicated, etc.), he still needed to obey.

And that is trust.  Trust says to the one giving instructions¸ “You don’t have to tell me why.  I know there is enough interest in me and love toward me that motivates your request.  I will do what you ask as proof to you that I acknowledge your love and wisdom.”  Of course, human authority, even motivated by strong ties of love, will sometimes fail.  Trust given to human authority also involves forgiveness for mistakes. 

But God-authority never fails!  There are never unforeseen circumstances, unintended consequences, or unlooked for motives.  I pray that my authority to Karissa and Husdon balances explained instructions and earned trust.  I want to reflect God’s authority as I seek to be merely a channel of His grace and love.  And as He teaches me, may I trust God enough to simply obey.

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)