All her stuggles to roll over served to help her understand her body and prepare her to crawl. Now her struggles in getting on her hands and knees are helping her to coordinate movement and gain strength so she can soon crawl. Without being able to roll over and be on her tummy, she would never have even thought about being able to move toward an object she wanted to hold. All of these things helped to create the desire to move and crawl.
I am likewise sure that all her crawling will help her coordination so she can stand. Crawling will help strengthen her and again create a desire to go to the next stage, walking.
I will forever be amazed at the package that emerged some 5 month ago and how miraculous her journey has been. We as parents don't push or shove but wait patiently for them to grow through the struggles of development to various accomplishments. We are there to protect them and support them while they travel their path. We grin with pride and celebrate as they grow closer to becoming what they were created to be. Birth and life truly are the greatest of miracles.
I pondered the future and thought about the commandment that tells us to honor our father and mother. Our parents guide us and encourage us to become what they think is best for us. We as children grow and become what we become and I wonder if what we become honors our mother and father. If we adhere to their good teachings and intentions and be all that they have helped us become, then that honors them. If we become more than what they wished for us, that honors them as well. We can think of the times that we or our kids have gone astray and remember those times as times to teach and forgive. The breach brought about by errors in judgement made way for the act of forgiveness which served to build a stronger bond between parent and child. Perhaps we can think of it as a broken bone that has healed and has become even stronger than before
That made me think about God and our relationship with Him. It made me think about His only Son who came to earth as a little baby. A baby that cried for food, had to learn to roll over and to crawl. A baby that stumbled and fell many times before learning to walk.
I wondered how much His life honored Mary and Joseph. I tried to picture Mary and Joseph rejoicing and applauding His first steps and His first words. I can picture them applauding Him for using the restroom for the first time, for keeping His room clean, and helping dad make something. Can we imagine little Jesus bringing mom flowers from the yard on her birthday and maybe cleaning out the barn for dad's birthday? Can we imagine the mixed emotions of Jesus' first day to school. Mixed emotions of pride that he was growing up and sadness that one day he would leave and go off on His own.
Here we are, just a few days from celebrating Jesus' birth. Maybe we can reflect on our birth or the birth of our children. We can recall the excitement and anticipation of birth. A day of a birth is a day that will never be forgotten. We will never forget the months of preparation and the concerns we have about knowing how to be parents.
We all have an earthly father and mother but we all also have our Heavenly Father. We have a Father who rejoiced at our birth and our first steps. He laughed at our first joke and treasured our first drawing with crayons. He beamed as we grew and maybe had mixed emotions about our going into the world to learn. To learn what? To be exposed to what? He knew we would be challenged. He knew we would make some good choices and some bad choices. But these are all learning stages. Stages that prepare us for life in the heavenly realm one day. Sometimes we would honor Him. Sometimes we would dishonor Him. Unlike our relationship with our earthly family, our wrong choices and actions would not bring us closer to our Father. In fact, it would create a void between us as we pulled further and further from Him by choosing the things He taught us not to choose.
He waited patiently and just as any parent, He wanted us to return to a close and loving relationship with Him, but the gap just could not be bridged for we had wandered too far.
His love for us never lessened. His desire to have us return home never diminshed. So one day, He did the unimaginable. He sent His own Son to earth in human form. He sent Him to Mary and Joseph and His name is Jesus.
The Father gave His only Son Jesus to us all. Jesus came to earth and lived a sinless life. He was a pure sacrifice given on our behalf. He was an unblemished lamb sacrificed for us, carrying all our sin to the cross that we might one day be able to cross that gap and return home to our Father. Jesus, who was once the Father's baby now becomes Savior, making the way for us to one day come home. Through Jesus, our wrong doings are forgiven opening the door to our heavenly home. Jesus is the bridge across that gap that gives us a path back home.
Next week, we celebrate the start of the Father's plan to bring us back into a relationship with Him. Next week, we celebrate that we, through Jesus, can one day go home.
For those who recognize Jesus as God's son and recognize that by our own choosing we have separated ourselves from God there is hope. If we confess that we have sinned and need forgiveness there is a way back across that huge gap. Jesus is the way back to Him, Jesus is the answer, Jesus is the Savior.
As I thought about my little granddaughter, I thought of the Father. He had one little one and He gave Him up. He sent Him far away from home. He charged Him with living a perfect life so He would be able to take our sin upon Him and create that bridge back to the Father. The Father could have kept His only Son home with Him but He gave Him up so that not only would one little one be able to spend eternity with Him but that all the little ones ever born would have an open door and a bridge across the gap to come home should they choose.
God gave more than He ever asked of us. He is a God that has done whatever it took to bring us home. He made a plan and put everything in place, all anyone has to do is believe and accept.
In a few days we celebrate the start of God's redemption plan that began 2000 plus years ago. We celebrate the birth of the one who is the bridge back to our Father. What better reason to rejoice, sing and celebrate? Some may give you a new coat, a new computer or new shoes but our Heavenly Father gives us life eternal through Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Savior. Now that is the best gift ever!
"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world should be saved through Him."
John 3:16,17. NAS
If you have never accepted God's plan to send Jesus as your Savior, perhaps now is that time. Go to God with a sincere heart and tell Him you have sinned and have no hope of salvation on your own. Tell Him you believe Jesus is the Son of God and accept His life and death as the sacrifice for your sins. Acknowledge and claim Jesus as your Savior and begin a new life filled with God's promise of life everlasting.
Merry Christmas to you all!