God knows About Being a Parent

My husband and I were newlyweds during the autumn of 1964. We lived in a small apartment by the west shore of Lake Union in Seattle, Life was wonderful. Well, sort of. In spite of the wondrous sunshine, cool evening breezes, and abundant wild flowers and blackberries, I felt rotten. The smell of food made my stomach churn. My only desire in life was to sleep. After a month of unabated symptoms, I diagnosed my own ulcer and I went to the doctor.

Well, I was not a very good diagnostician. I didn't have an ulcer or anything even close. I was expecting our first child!  So much for telling our families we were not having children for at least two years. We were going to have one nine months after our wedding!

Little did we know what lay ahead of us. We didn't know the joys children would bring. Nor did we know the pain. We didn't know the blessings. We didn't know the costs. But God did. Every step we took, he was beside as. He laughed with us in our joy, cried with us in our pain, and blessed us with wisdom and strength in every decision we made.That's the way God is.

He knew all about being a parent. He had experienced the joys when his son healed the sick and raised the dead. He had experienced the sorrows when his son was rejected by the hometown folks and religious leaders. He had experienced the blessings as Jesus said, "not my will, but thine." And he had experienced the costs when his sinless son died on the cross as a common criminal. God knew about being a parent. He was one.

More correctly, he is one. Not only was he Jesus' father, he is mine, too. Like any child, I cause my father sorrow, pain, disappointment and who knows what else. But my desire is to bring him joy and pleasure. I want him to be proud of me as I give my all to whatever task he has given me. I want to bring honor and blessing to our family name, Redeemed.

 At a basketball game several years ago, my grandson made a fantastic play. As the crowd cheered, my granddaughter turned to me with a huge grin on her face and said, "That's my mama's boy!." That is what I envision when we, as God's children, make a fantastic play. I can see Jesus turning to a nearby angel and saying with a huge grin on his face, "That's my Abba's girl."

I realize there is a danger in making my fearful yet wonderfully loving God too human. He is God after all. I am not. I am a mere human. Yet, I am comforted thinking of him in human terms because he knows what it is like to be human. He lived as one of us. He also knows about being a parent.