Quiet Gardens, Raging Seas Part Deux
A String of Nevil Family MomentsArchive for Christianity
Pulling on Spiritual Heart Strings…
We recently started attending a new church plant, Renovo. I’ve mentioned it a few times I’m pretty sure. Anyway, in the first part of the morning service (during worship, announcements & communion) all the kids are in church with their parents. It’s taken some getting used to for both us and Cooper, but I can honestly say that I really love having him in there with us. While some days it can be incredibly distracting for me (and probably other parents), it has also opened up countless opportunities for us to talk to Cooper about Jesus.
We’ve talked about communion, worship, why Jesus died and what that means etc. It’s been very moving often times for me and Jer to have these talks with him both at church, on the way home and then throughout the week. I think that sometimes, we as parents make it so difficult to talk about spiritual things with our children. As if there is a perfect time and place. But clearly (as it says in Deuteronomy) the best opportunities are in our every day lives! For us, church is just a part of our week, so it’s a great every day type of thing that allows us opportunities to talk to him about spiritual things.
My sweet boy
Today at church during communion, there was a picture up on the screen of Jesus, hanging on the cross, and he was very bloody and beaten. The picture has always bugged me because there are little ones in there and it’s a pretty grotesque image. But I go back and forth with reality and truth and shielding Cooper from certain things. Today, Cooper noticed the picture for maybe the first time since we started going to Renovo (it’s up there weekly). This was the conversation we had that brought me to tears and was so precious to my heart:
Cooper: “Mommy, is that Jesus up there?”
Me: “Yes honey, it is.”
Cooper: “What’s he doin’?”
Me: “He’s on the cross honey, he died for us.”
Cooper: “He’s dying? Why is he dying?”
Me: (choked up and holding back tears now) “Baby, Jesus died so that he could save us!”
And with that, he was on to something else. That moment felt frozen in time to me and just deeply touched me; especially with it being during the communion time. It was a sweet little gift to me as I was distracted today – and not by anything that Cooper was doing for once!
Encouragement and Reconciliation
I’m sitting here at the computer, having a snack (which is also lunch because my tummy just can’t hold as much as my eyes want to eat), ignoring the list of things I really do need to do today. It’s not that I don’t feel like it, it’s just that I’m in the mood to write…I should’ve put that on my list for today so that I could cross it off….
Incidentally, I did get a few things done and hey, it’s only 2:00 pm right now…
I have a lot of thoughts about this year’s election. I’ve been journaling them and writing about some things behind the scenes. I haven’t posted a lot of it here because it’s still rolling around in my head a bit.
One thing I do want to say (and then I have a funny story about Coop), is concerning how those of us who profess Christ are reacting to Obama’s election as our 44th President. It is so important for us to reflect Christ in our responses to others! Trashing Obama, calling him names and referring to him/comparing him to terrible men in history, this is not God honoring.
I was briefly chatting with my Pastor today (s’cuse me, he has issues with being called that, my “minister”), and he made a lovely point. In the OT, the people of Israel were so jealous of other nations, so concerned about what they looked like in comparison to these nations, that they decided they needed a REAL king. They were big butt heads about this issue too. So God told them, ok, fine, you want a king, then you can have one. But there’s a catch, you will reap a whole mess of consequences for your fulfilled desire. After that, they got Saul. Wow, what a party that was, huh? After all this and hundreds of years of awful sin and abandon, the only thing that could save God’s people was Jesus-God himself in flesh. Lucky for us, that sacrifice wasn’t just for Israel.
The people got what they asked for back then, and frankly, America got what they asked for last night. I am so thankful today is Wednesday, that my tv won’t be a barrage of political ads. It does nothing for me but accentuate the depravity of man. Obama is what America wanted-and now we all have to reap the consequences of this action.
I have really disliked the level of disrespect that has gone on while Bush has been in office. It’s sickenening to disrespect a man in the way our society and media has done. I believe history will have much to say about Bush and I hope the amazing things he did are not forgotten. But now Obama is our president, and I still feel he deserves the respect of the office he holds. We may be far removed from him, but we are still his neighbors. I do believe the greatest man, oh wait, no that was God himself, mentioned a little something about how we are to treat our neighbors. To this day, it is the hardest thing for me to live out in my everday life (as I’ve complained here many a time).
So anyway, that’s my big thought for today. I encourage those of you who follow Christ to do so in all the ways we are asked by our Lord as you engage those who ask you how you feel now that Obama has won the election. I pray you’ll even try to use the conversation as an opportunity to explain the eternal hope that is within you.
Now, let’s change gears. Sure I could make it a new post…but I’m sitting here now….so here we go. On a lighter note:
Cooper has terrible dinner table manners. It’s my fault. I have accepted this. Now when I say he has terrible dinner table manners, I really mean that he doesn’t meet mom’s expectations at dinner time. It’s just typcial stuff that most if not all parents struggle with when you combine toddler+dinner table=annoying situation. You know, complaining about what we are eating, negotiating how much is going to be eaten of which thing-if anything, whining, and general silliness or poor behavior. The other night, we were sitting at the dinner table and Cooper was up to the normal gig. But Mom and Dad were short on patience and really trying to talk about something. Coop did something that Jeremy especially disapproved of and when he reprimanded Cooper for it the child took his life into his own hands….HE PLUGGED HIS EARS. I know…I kid you not. All you Grandma’s are loving this, I know.
Jeremy was so enflamed with anger over his son’s actions (and I was so busy hiding my face and trying not to CRACK UP LAUGHING audibly), that he kicked his chair out from behind him, picked the child up from his seat and put him on the staircase in time out. He then returned to the table and glared at me for laughing (however quietly). Finally, Cooper stopped crying hysterically and he and Daddy worked out the issue of what was done and what was inappropriate/what is appropriate, etc.
We all sit down at the dinner table and try again. Cooper and Jeremy have the following dialogue:
Cooper: ”Hi Daddy.”
Jeremy: “Hi Cooper.”
Cooper: “You’re not mad at me or frustrated at me?”
Jeremy: “No Cooper, Mommy and Daddy will never hold a grudge against you. It’s over and done with and we are all better now.”
Cooper: “You just want me to obey.”
Jeremy: “Yes, Cooper [heart melting quickly], we just want you to obey.”
Cooper: …reaching out and touching Jeremy’s arm “I apologize Daddy.”
Jeremy:…welling up with tears in his eyes “I forgive you Cooper, thank you for apologizing.”
