From the Heart of Another Grandparent
After taking a brief break from writing posts, our minister shared his heart in a blog post on Tuesday. It fits so well with what I shared with you yesterday that I asked his permission to copy this portion for you.
During my time of “quietness,” I was touched by an expression I have heard so many times in my life when someone else was leading a group in prayer: “We are gathered as your children in your presence…”
As Cindy and I have passed into our sixth decade of life, our children and grandchildren are busily engaged in their own lives, as they should be. But sometimes we long for them to come… just to be with us… without schedule… without agenda… without electronic devices… without wishing their “detention” in our presence would quickly come to an end… just because they want to be with us. Since we live some distance from all of them there are actually very few times that can happen.
With God it is different. We can “live” in His presence all of the time. We can “go there” in all of the odd moments that inhabit the spaces in our lives. We can program times to “be still” and sit at His feet, marinating in the splendor of His presence. We can be unhurried, unforced, uninhibited in our praise and meditation, “relaxing and rejoicing as His child in His presence.”
Over the weekend I learned of situations in which these roles were completely reversed. In one case an adult son longed deeply for attention from his mother. In another an adult daughter and her husband and children were completely estranged from her mother. The daughter’s reason was resentment toward her mother because her mother’s ministries took her away so much during her childhood.
None of us can fill the longing for God that is deep within every human breast, but we still have roles to fill in the lives of many people. Let’s ask ourselves today, “Who is longing for me?”
Therefore, my beloved brethren
whom I long to see, my joy and crown,
in this way stand firm in the Lord, my beloved.
Philippians 4:1