|
And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.
-Deuteronomy 6:6-9
Anyone who has spent time with or raised teenagers knows the roller coaster ride of twists and turns and gut-wrenching drops, with the occasional peaks. Preparing them to survive their teen years and then beyond is hard work. For us and them. We have been working hard to get our teen prepared for high school with a morning routine and great self-sufficiency. On the first day of his new schedule, he got ready in record time, made his breakfast, and was ready to go. His mother told him how proud and impressed she was. He replied, “You don’t need to be. I’m going to be doing this every day!”
The Lord tells us how pleasing it is when we follow God’s call, the Way, and care for ourselves, one another, and God’s creation. Nonetheless, when we take it seriously and take pride in it, it brings God joy. Just like the joy we take as parents, teachers, and mentors when we see our kids take the reigns and take pride in their own contributions to the world. When we carve out time for studying scripture, taking our families to worship or setting an online time with them every single week, seeking out ways to serve or donate needed items, we are showing God that we have that same enthusiasm for doing the work God calls us to do. We grow in our relationship with God.
It’s good for us as believers to stop and examine our routines. Are they sloppy, childish, or disappointing? Or are they the sort of maturing and developing ones that our God takes pride in seeing? What can we do to show our heavenly parent we are learning and growing and maturing, so when God peeks in and smiles, we say, “I’ll be doing this every day.”
|
