I thought it would be appropriate since it was Easter...He is risen!!!
God sent his son into the world to become His word in the flesh. Jesus knew no sin, all his life, until that day at Calvary. He was nailed on the cross by his hands and feet, can you imagine the pain He endured? The weight of His body, hanging from the nails? A crown of thorns that dug into His flesh? Again, Jesus knew no pain of sin until that day. That day, He gave His life and took upon Himself ALL the sins of everyone on earth, to save them from their death by sin. Imagine living with no pain and no sin until you are thrust upon a cross, to bear unimaginable pain and suffering for others! My mind cannot get a grip around it.
God sent his son Jesus into the world to save ALL of us. None of us are perfect and are sinners, every day we live. All we have to do is to accept Jesus as our Savior and we are accepted into the Kingdom of God . Sounds simple, right? Well, the first step is.
God, in sending his Son had to endure the pain of watching him die at the hands of cruel, ruthless, heartless people. He was hurt beyond comprehension and God watched and could not do anything because He knew the outcome before it happened. God always knows what is going to happen because he wrote the book of our lives. I cannot imagine Him and the anguish He felt at watching His son go through that agonizing death.
Having gone through the death of a loved one, so tiny and without sin, at the hands of another, who was careless and in rage, I know that God knows how I feel. The anger, rage, hopelessness, hurt, the longing, missing them (however, now Jesus is with God), grief....He knows all the emotions I feel.
God was and is the best parent. We just have to be quiet and listen to Him. He loved His son and us enough to give Him to us to take our infirmities and then took Him home with Him to sit at His right hand. How God must have wept watching what His son had to endure.
We as parents, I believe most parents, strive to do the best for our children. We have our mothers as role models and we read books to try to be the best we can. We make choices to be like our parents or change what we did not like as we, ourselves, were growing up. Again, we do the best with the knowledge we have.
I always spent time with my kids, especially since their father was gone most evenings. We went to the parks, rode bicycles, played, they had their friends over, no matter how many, there was always room for more. God gives us our children for a little while, to instill in them His good ways. The commandments to live by. Again, we do the best we can.
I have a friend whom I sat with at church, who is having a problem getting her 13 year old to go to church. She said the girl has drawn a line in the sand about doing anything with church. Doesn't matter what church or where. During the service God gave me a question to ask her and when the service was over, I did. He said to ask her how old her daughter was...13...and where, as a mother did she draw her line in the sand for her daughter. She looked at me and said she really hadn't thought of it like that. BUT God did!!
My children are good, abiding kids. Both grown, both loved their grandparents and are kind and considerate of others. So, when one was unhappy with some things they thought I did or didn't do, I told them I did the best I could. Their reply was, "well, it wasn't good enough". In that moment, I had to make a choice and realized, this was the child in them talking or I could have taken it upon myself to let it fester and never seen or talked with them again. I decided, since I was also told, "I don't care if I have a relationship with you", I had to, again be the mother and decide to forgive them and know that they are my child and even if they didn't want to have a relationship with my now, someday that might change.
I love my kids equally, they are both very different in their personalities, stature and beliefs. That is what I love the most about them. They didn't have to be disciplined the same because they ARE different souls. One accepts and is quiet, but has anger inside. They are learning about how different life becomes and how it changes with their growing older. The other challenges EVERYTHING, has to learn about everything themselves, but they are learning they can love and are learning to accept love.
We have all been children, just borrowed from God for a little while. If we continue to grow is His teachings, our life with grow with love and He will help us endure. I have learned to be still and "hear" what He wants for me. Yes, it's difficult, but with His help, every minute of every day....I am blessed!!
God's Grace endures... forever!
