Joy Best

The Lord is my shepherd;  I have everything I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; He leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength.  He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name.  Ps. 23:1-3

Can you hear David the shepherd-king expressing his thankfulness that not only was he his nation’s leader, but that he had Someone leading him?  Shepherd of the shepherds, leader of the leaders, parent of the parents.  This is a reflection that is a little late for Mothers Day and a little early for Father’s Day, but here we are in between! This Mother’s Day I was thinking about how God parents us as we step into the parenting role.  As we lead, we have Someone leading us, as we listen, His voice is there. It isn’t always a SHOUTING voice, though, and sometimes we have strong SHOUTING emotions that are louder in our ears than His still small voice, so sometimes we get going down the wrong path, and have to stop and listen carefully again. It means we need humility to acknowledge we took a wrong turn, and like a child just wait for instructions rather than trying to look confident and keeping on going down the wrong path.

I had a little reminder of this last week when I babysat two of my grandkids. I was really praying that God would help me with wisdom as Gary was away and I was with them on my own overnight. One had a cough, and woke up in the night, wouldn’t settle back to sleep. I tried, using all the wisdom I had, but couldn’t figure out what was the problem, of course I didn’t want her to go on and on wailing so as to wake her little sister up. The next day, as mommy and daddy returned, I found out what she was trying to say to me, and it all made sense.  I asked her to forgive me for treating her harshly and not understanding what she was getting at.  She said “that’s OK Grandma, I forgive you” and we had a big hug and kisses. I didn’t get the wisdom I needed when I was in the situation where I didn’t know what to do. I got it the next day. That’s just how it is sometimes.  At the time I had strong emotions saying that I needed to re-establish quiet so I didn’t have TWO  wailing children! So I did the best that I knew rather than just waiting and praying.  But the next day I got the wisdom, then had to apologize, ask forgiveness, get relationship restored, and sometimes that’s how it comes!