The Embarrassing Claw

My mind is always running a million miles per hour. I would be horrified if anyone had the ability to listen in. My thoughts can be racing down a path of worry, or charging into a pile of self condemnation faster than I can catch it. But, sometimes God steps in with his big red sign and stops the flow of traffic instantly with words that catch my attention. I always know it is Him because they completely interrupt the nonsense I’m already focusing on.

This happened just the other day after my friend prayed for our children. I couldn’t even concentrate on the prayer meeting anymore because God had so taken my thoughts captive as He revealed to me His heart in words that I could understand. He often uses my heart for my kids to bring understanding of His heart for me.

My kids are really good boys. I am very proud of them, most of the time. But sometimes,like with any child, they can embarrass the heck out of me with their bad behavior in public.

I took my son to his best-friends birthday party at Main Event not long ago. I know it was an expensive party and the parents were so generous, but Caleb ran out of tokens quickly trying to get a toy from a claw. I had warned him that it was a money waster, but he insisted. He never got the toy, but was disappointed when he saw all his friends still playing games and earning tickets for prizes. He began to whine and complain until his friends parents were ready to spend more money on him. I stepped in right away, fighting back the urge to run away and pretend he wasn’t my child. I apologized for my son’s ungratefulness and would not allow them to give into his manipulations. He totally misrepresented me and the values of our family. Good manners are nothing more than considering others in all that we do. Caleb’s ungratefulness demonstrated contempt for our hosts which is the biggest sin in our home.

I have so many more proud moments I could share about my boys. Like, the time we were driving home from our friends house and I commented that they must have really liked the food that was prepared for them since they ate every last bite. Now that our hosts were not around they could cry out in protest, “no Mom, we hated it! We just didn’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings so we ate it anyway!” My heart swelled with pride, because they had represented me so well. They sacrificed their own comfort to make our friends feel appreciated.

Basically, they made me look good. Let’s just be honest! That’s what it’s all about sometimes. We like to take pride in our children and we don’t want to be embarrassed. You could say it’s a little prideful of us. But, I think it goes deeper than that. We know that our children have a high calling on their life. We want more for them. We want them to take more ground in this world than we have possessed because of the character and wisdom we have patiently instilled in them. We want them to know God more intimately because of the faith they have seen in us and adopted.

In the middle of a gathering of ladies for prayer, my thoughts were silenced. My Father put His hand to my lips with a gentle hush and began to share with me from His heart how He wants me to represent Him well too. His heart is so big that it loves without reservation. His desire is that my life would demonstrate His love to everyone around me. He wants me to represent His love well. This is His desire for all who call Him Father. It is the foundation of everything else that He will have us do. We are called to know God intimately and trust Him. We are called to possess our land as we walk in the authority He has given us. That’s going to look different for each of us since we are all uniquely gifted. But, expressing His love to others remains our goal.

We are His children. Let’s honor Him with our life.