Power of Self...And My Two-Year-Old

I've had the unexpected privilege over the past several weeks of spending my days at home with my beautiful two year old daughter.  Incredible.

Cuddling, laughing, reading, playing, disciplining, overwhelming, exhausting, training, teaching, praying...there is no area of life off limits to her.  She is all consuming!  During this time I've witnessed her begin to thoroughly tap into her inner inability to share, restrain and simply exude kindness around every turn.  She's unlocked the power of self.

Interesting isn't it?  There are untold numbers of books published on unlocking our self-will, self-power, self-realization...and my two year old discovered it naturally and adapted quite quickly.  Yet, it's this very self-powerization that has simultaneously unlocked the ugly: whining, disobedience and all the belly-sliding-across-the-coffee-table-tantrums self-power affords.

To be honest I think she's been a bit selfish since the day she was born.  Needing food.  Needing changed.  Needing bathed.  Needing cuddled.  Needing clothed.  Needing loved. Needing, needing, needing!  And now a whole new area of needing has been unlocked:  her toys, her plug (pacifier), her snack, her space, her show, her story, her daddy, her mommy...

I love her.  If you have kids you understand that taking-part-in-creation-sort-of-love.

I'm not sure we need help discovering our inner will, unlocking our inner power, our hidden-strength.  It appears to be quite natural to want to reach out and grab what's 'mine.'

No, she's got that down.

It seems that my divine role is to steer that very realized power.  To shape and clarify for her the very purpose of her abilities, her awareness, her desires.  It's my role to train her to both harness self-control in order to enjoy her strengths, and realize that actual power is first of all external, it's a gift, it's the Spirit of the Living and Active God who endows, fills, realizes, powerizes.

That her very breath was from the start His.  That it's the Pneuma who sustains her heartbeat now.

Nah, she doesn't need anyone telling her how to unlock her inner-self...she's got that down and honestly it's naturally self-centered.  If you know a two year old you know what I mean, OR better yet if you know a 32 year old who continues to act on the power of the inner self without restraint you know just how absurd that inner compass really is.

Yet there's so much beauty as well right?  She's absolutely adorable, she growls like a monster, throws her hair back, laughs at random, draws us into her world and shares what brings her joy...so how does this parallel reality factor into that other ugly inner power?

I have an incomplete thought...

Self(ishness) tends to be about absorbing, about taking more and more from others for personal gain.

True Beauty on the other hand, while inherent in who she is as an image bearer of God, is an immediate display of all that is selfless.  I wonder if it works a bit like this; the beauty my little lady offers benefits me and those who witness it.  Her sweetness, laughter and intelligence cause me to delight in her and her Maker as I realize her blessing upon us.  Her beauty in all it's facets offer those around her something to delight in and thus fosters more beauty: laughter, smiles, joy.  While her selfish nature causes those around her to close up, step away, tune-out...

Scripture both teaches and demonstrates this personal, familial, social beauty in action through healthy 'one another' living.  A community that supports, cares for, prays for, equips, shares, disciplines = loves, those around them.  And this is all powered by the eternal/external Holy Spirit who when invited into our lives enters in and transforms.

Beauty is mysterious.  But it's a divine mystery sourced in the Creator.  Beauty offers something other, something more, something for us all, something to lean into.

Self is also mysterious.  It's also a divine mystery sourced in the Creator, yet tends to be realized on our strength, smarts and inner person hood.  It tends to either force people in or out.  It's divine mystery dissipates and is swallowed up by the mere physical, lustful and sensational.

Regardless the people group, social structure or belief system around the world it appears that at some point every group notes that the individuals self-power, selfishness, self-desires might actually do more harm than good and so ought to be suppressed.

On the other hand, every group, culture, people, system will acknowledge, invite into and celebrate the one who controls the self, offers more to life, invites others in to experience joy and beauty and simply share in all seems right.

Maybe it's true, that every good gift truly is from the Lord, an overflow of His being.  That beauty is all around us, in many forms and ultimately unites.  That true self-realization involves releasing what we think we know, what we desire in our guts, to the very God who gives desire, to the Spirit who fills to His fullness those who seek His reality.

An incomplete thought...not a treatise, not a defining document...a thought.  We know the sweetness of true beauty because we also know bitterness.  Others know a soured life because they've tasted that sweetness.  However you see it, there are very real, very sourced powers at work.

Oh, and if you're able, I'd recommend spending a couple months at home with your kids and witness a microcosm of Gods universe at work.

re-Training Me Up...

My son, a kindergartner, noted recently how orange a tree was as we drove past it at 45 mph. Until recently I hadn't noticed the tree's. To be honest I'd sort of forgotten about them.

I'm in North Eastern Ohio, surrounded by millions of beautiful trees, woods, forests. It's Fall at that. And I'd not noticed the colors of the trees until my 5 yr. old described them as we drove by unnecessarily fast.

In the past I'd taken time to notice them. In fact, I would have been the one to point them out to my children, my friends, my wife. I would have pointed out the individual leaves, noted the depth of color, divine art in organic motion. I would regularly, daily even, walk with my family through town, through parks, neighborhoods, the city and we would speak of and enjoy the movement of the Spirit yet partaking in creation as He did in the beginning (Genesis 1:1-2).

Now, once again, I'm able to take in the trees amidst the forest.

The Patriarch Moses noted years before that our role as fathers, as parents, is to raise our children to journey with God. My 5 yr. old, in pointing out the trees and noting how God had made them turn his favorite color orange (just for him!), was simply doing what I had trained him to do: note Gods work, point it out to others, and give Him Glory.

It not only feels good to see the trees again, but all the more I'm able to hear my son give God Glory as well.

Read Deut. 6:4-9 - How would you raise your children to glorify God all the more if you could do it again? Start that rhythm tomorrow.

Parenting Lessons from a Famous Made-up Father

A couple parenting lessons from a famous but made-up father.

Jesus once told a story about a Jewish son who demanded his inheritance early, while the father yet lived in fact. We know the story. The father agrees, the son takes his money and runs, wastes his life for a season and returns to his family. And the older brother who stayed was ticked and bitter. Read Luke 15:11-32.

The father in the story not only teaches us much about the love and character of our Heavenly Father, but about our role as parent to our own children. Let me draw out two observations.

First, the father attempted to live up to the sh'ma in Deuteronomy 6. To talk about God and model God-likeness in such a way that his children would know God personally. Your saying, 'but the younger son was a jerk, he was a rebel, he was a fool.' Right.

But the son also returned. He recalled the truth of his childhood and banked on it holding fast upon his return. His repentant response gives this away, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.'

1. The son noted his sin against heaven (the Lord) first and foremost.
2. The son noted his rebellion against his own father.

His paradigm was correct even when his heart and mind had been so selfishly distracted by the world. The dad here faithfully raised his family in Truth. In fact, I believe the training up of his sons was such a gracious overflow of his own life (Deut 6) that his faith was yet enticing to his son even amid rebellion.

Second, the father genuinely loved without bounds.

1. He Waited for his sons return and reconciliation.
2. He Watched quite literally for his son to one day walk onto the family farm.
3. He Welcomed him when he finally did.

So what can we take away from this parable as parents? Be faithful in raising up our children in the Truth. Not simply speaking Truth at them but discipling them in all things - from the moment we rise in the morning to the setting of the sun, with every word and deed, blanketed with the Word of the living God.

And WHEN rebellion occurs. Whether it lasts 10 minutes or 10 years, know that you have faithfully raised your children well, that the Spirit is yet at work in their heart, mind and soul.

And if they return, in whatever state they return, healthy and whole or broken and bruised - wait, watch and welcome with the very same love God offers you upon your daily return to Him.

Read Deuteronomy 6:4-9