Distractions

"Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window." Tozer

We are wanderers... we get side tracked with the everyday things in life and begin to wander... suddenly we find ourselves in a dark valley and wonder how we got there... we feel alone.  We begin looking around for some familiar thing, some comfortable thing that feels like home... but it just doesn't seem right....

When I was a child I was a wanderer.  When we went on school field trips none of the parent chaperones ever wanted me in their group because I was always the one that got lost. I remember getting lost at The Detroit Zoo, at The Henry Ford Museum and several other places.  It was a sickening feeling as a child... to suddenly look up and there be a sea of faces around and none that you know.  I would start to cry and of course someone that worked there would find me and bring me back to my group.  Now as a parent I have taken my children to these places and I am always so cautious of where they are.  I've told them all my horror stories of getting lost, so I think I have instilled a sacred fear in them.  As a parent it is a different kind of sickening feeling... the thought of losing a child...

When I say lose a child I don't only mean in the physical sense but also in the spiritual sense... they both give me that empty feeling... a feeling I hope and pray I will never know.  There are so many people lost out there today... lost and hopeless.  But they don't have to be... Jesus is there ever waiting with open arms to gather them into His fold... to protect and give meaning to one's life. 

Only He can fill the void that leaves one feeling empty and without meaning...
If you have wandered away... if you are lost and don't know where to turn... if you're struggling with the cares of life... Jesus has all the answers... He is your hope... call unto Him and He will answer... like the wandering bird coming back...

Until next time,
Jean


     

More Is Caught Than Taught

"Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth; and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart, and in the sight of thine eyes: but know thou, that for all these things God will bring thee into judgment.  Therefore remove sorrow from thy heart, and put away evil from thy flesh: for childhood and youth are vanity."  Ecclesiastes 11:9- 10

The message in these two short verses say a great deal and should be heeded even more greatly.  It is true that youth tend to be a bit more on the 'daring' side I venture to say.  They seem to think they have the world by the horns and life will carry on forever... We parents, teachers, ministers and adults 'just don't understand'... 'we have never been through such things'... When we were young we would often hear our elders say that time seems to move by so much more quickly the older they get...  and we just couldn't understand such a statement... as we grow older we realize it is strangely true.  I once heard in a message that as soon as a child is born, it begins to die... the aging process begins immediately. As Solomon of old wrote often in Ecclesiastes, '...all is vanity.'

A children's song admonishes, "Be careful little eyes what you see; be careful little ears what you hear; be careful little feet where you go..."  This concept needs to be diligently taught by parents and adults to our children, as well as lived out.  It is hard to teach something that you do not do yourself or tell your youth not to do something that you do... 'more is caught than taught' as the saying goes.  Our children will use us as their guild and for the most part when they are little keep to those things... they believe  and trust us.  As they grow into adolescence, things become a bit more tumultuous and as I wrote the other day, they are now stretching out their wings and testing the world around.  This time is so crucial in the relationship building and I feel so often I fail... It is hard for me to 'let go'... 'to trust'... But I believe that promise written by David in the book of Proverbs, "Train them up in the way they should go and when they are old, they will not depart from it." 

We all have this promise as we seek His wisdom... even when we fail, He is never failing... even when we lack trust, He is there to cover us... Praise God for His never failing attributes and ceaseless love for his ever failing children.

I cling to so many of these promises and I believe them... I am trusting my children to Him.
Until next time,
Jean