He said “you know what happens when you stop learning?”
I said, “you know it all?”
“nope, you’re dead” he replied dryly.
I was basically struck dumb. I had never thought of it that way. It’s not that I thought you could stop learning at some point or that you would reach a time where you’d know it all. I just never gave it much thought.
I don’t know what exactly caused me to rekindle this train of thought, I suppose I was pondering over the lessons I was trying to teach my children that day (or more truthfully the lessons they’d taught me). You see the older I get and the longer I am a mom the more I realize I don’t know it all. You read the latest books written by well known child psychologists or the hippest new pastor, you talk with other moms, you read more books and you come to the conclusion that unless that author knows your child specifically and knows exactly how he/she will turn out then they can’t possibly know what your child needs. Same goes for all the moms you talk to.
I’ve come to learn that my children are as different as night and day. And praise God for it. Of course they are different, they should be different. I still have to remind myself of it daily as I try to love them the same way or discipline them the same way or pray the same things for them. They already have such different needs based on their personalities and physiology. I’ve since begun to celebrate their differences. From those differences will come the gifts God has equipped them with and then the road he will have them travel on should they choose to follow Him. -This I prayed about regularly until finally I learned that it is in God’s hands and I have to trust that he will take care of all that.
I am continuing to learn about myself as a mom, a wife, a friend. I thought I knew myself inside and out, I mean who knows you better than you?
God does.
I was reading through Ephesians tonight, as Pastor Stef has been leading us through this amazing work of Paul, and came to understand even deeper how we each are so different and how that should be respected.
“For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Eph 2:10
My children are often pushing and pulling, jostling for position, sometimes it’s for a toy, sometimes to get on my lap. As they grow older the jostling will probably become more aggressive, and sadly probably won’t be to sit with mommy. What I am learning from them is not only how best to “referee” their situation but also to examine my own actions when it comes to how I treat my brothers and sisters in Christ. Am I fighting for that silly toy? Or am I just trying to get closer to God’s lap?
Reading that verse again... it really levels the playing field. Sure we each are different, with different gifts but no one of us is more important than the other. God created each of us... all of us to do good works, to honour HIM to glorify HIM, to praise HIM....
You know, I knew this already.... I just never followed the thought all the way. From the one and only book where the author knows how it started and how it will end.
Still learning...
