Love them hard

This is Annalise. She is 3 and full of belly laughs and little girl sweetness. She is plump and squishy and I kiss her cheeks at least 100 times a day. She loves snuggles and pretends to be a cat for most all of the day, often responding with meows instead of words. She has an absolute breakdown in the morning if I get up and make my coffee without her. She loves to help make the coffee and can’t understand why I don’t wake her up. The problem with this situation is that my goal is to get up and make my coffee without her, only because mama needs the quiet. When her feelings are hurt she will say “you have ruined my heart!” – her big blue eyes and bottom lip telling the story. She is so precious and i find myself clutching at the fleeting baby moments.

Parenting is such an incredible thing. The joy and pain (and it is both!) of watching your children grow. People tell you it goes fast, but its like you breathe and the moment is gone. They are bigger, more independent, more beautiful. Just as they should be.

Lately I have been praying about parenting these 4 kids we have. I was telling the Lord that I really long for them to KNOW Him, to know His voice, to encounter the Holy Spirit. I was asking for wisdom in how to do this practically, in a way that is worked out in every part of our lives, not just in a devotional around the breakfast table.

As I was praying I felt like the Lord was saying “Your job, Sarah, is to love them hard. Love them hard and well and give them opportunities”. This seems so simple and in many ways it is! But I sat there thinking about it, it grew layers. I could see His heartbeat in it.

You see He is so gentle with us. We have this free will to choose Him. He is always giving us opportunities to grow deeper with Him.

In my parenting I can’t make my kids choose Him, but I can sure give them opportunities to encounter Him. Truly encountering Him is the most life-changing experience I know. I can lead them to the well that never runs dry!

This is changing the way I approach discipling my kids and even how we plan for the future. We want to give our kids opportunities to travel and fall in love with the people and cultures that are so close to God’s heart.

We want to pray with our kids and then give them opportunities to hear from the Lord. We want to give them opportunities to serve and pour out their lives as they see need and identify unique ways they were made to answer those needs.

As I was thinking over these parenting things, the Lord opened my eyes to see that He is constantly doing this same thing with me. He is loving me so well. Constantly pouring out a waterfall of His unfailing love and grace over me. He is also constantly giving me opportunities to go deeper with Him, to be used by Him. I can choose to stay safe and comfortable, or to adventure with HIm. He will take me a deep as I am willing to go. As I write those words my heart pounds because I have clutched safety for so long! And yet my heart longs to run with Him!

My prayer today is that you and I will know, in the depths of who we are, how deeply loved we are. That from that place we would have eyes to see the opportunities He is giving us to bring life, love and freedom to those around us.