Day 43- seek, love, walk...



this is worship...

Yesterday, Brian, the youngest of my four children, graduated from high school. 

For those of you who still have children "in the nest", I hope what I have written will encourage you a little bit.  For those of you who are experiencing children venturing out on their own for the first time...maybe the following will resonate with you a little bit too.

When Brian was very young he had a tiny pair of green canvas shoes (no they weren’t Toms).  When his little toddler feet outgrew the shoes, I spent a day sketching them and then wrote a verse (Micah 6:8) on the drawing.  It is a verse that became the basis for a prayer I have prayed often for Brian over the years…I don’t remember the exact words I pray, but they go something like this:

My Father God,

Thank you for entrusting me with your precious child, Brian.  Lord, I feel so inadequate to raise him but I know You will strengthen me and give me wisdom.  I ask You, Father,  that as Brian grows he will fall in love with You and Your word, and that he will seek justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with You… worshipping you with his life, all the days of his life.

In Jesus’ name,

Amen

Well, the little canvas shoe drawing has been hanging in our kitchen for almost 17 years. And those tiny baby feet are now a men's size 12!  I recently took down the drawing when it was pointed out to me that I spelled “humbly” wrong on it. Oops!

So this week, as God prepared my heart for Brian’s graduation,  I tried to sketch another pair of canvas shoes…this time they were “man size”, but still with that same verse from Micah written on the drawing.  As I sketched and shaded and erased and sketched some more I reflected on how faithfully God has worked and continues working in Brian’s heart…and I will continue to pray.

Father God,

Thank you for giving me these precious 18 years with Brian in our home. Thank you for preparing him, and preparing me to release him to go off to college and live in a new place and discover the path You are setting before him. 

Thank you for impressing on me and Don from the very beginning that You want us to hold the children in open hands to you. 

Thank you for the rejoicing times, but also thank you for the valleys that You have walked through with us- just like You promised you would.  Lord, my inadequacy to parent Brian was never more evident then it has been this year …walking through some of the harder stuff of life with him…but Your faithfulness and Your strength in my weakness was also never more evident. 

Lord, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for holding Brian as he falls more in love with You and Your Word. 

Thank you that you are teaching him and our whole family daily what it means to serve you…to seek justice…to love mercy… and to walk humbly with You. As I sit here my heart is ready to burst with gratitude for the way you have carried Brian and our entire family in the Shadow of Your Wing. 

In Jesus’ precious name,

Amen