November 20th

Behold Your Son

             Near the cross of Jesus stood His mother, His mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.  When Jesus saw His mother there, and the disciple whom He loved standing nearby, He said to her, “Woman, here is your son,” and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home. 

John 19:25-27

            In His darkest moments, Jesus still longed to take care of those that He loved.  He was hanging on the cross.  Death was imminent.  The sin of humanity weighed on His shoulders and the Father had forsaken Him.  At that moment, when His whole world was pain and fatigue and loneliness, Jesus looked out and saw His mother and John and He asked the two of them to take care of each other.  That amount of love and awareness is staggering in the face of what Jesus was suffering.

            I am constantly amazed at what parents will go through for their children.  There are the crazy sleep schedules.  There are the food tubes and the toilet adventures.  There are the therapies and surgeries and sleepless nights and emergency room visits.  My mom drove around at -40 with the car windows rolled down because I was car sick.  There is the anxiety when they won’t sleep and the anxiety when they sleep too deeply.  There is the back-breaking effort of lifting them in and out of their wheelchairs and the frustration of services that are not available for our loved ones.  There is the uncertainty of the future and the isolation of the present.

            And yet I see parents daily pouring themselves out to make the lives of their children a little bit better than it was yesterday.  Without expectation of reward.  Without praise or acclaim or the chance of tomorrow being any different, they get up morning after morning after morning because of the love they have for their children.

            That love is the heart of God the Father living within our chests.  The heart of the One who gave His very best to those He held dear whether they reciprocated or not.  Whether they acknowledged His love or not.  Whether they could respond or not. 

            When we love our children, we display God’s love for the world in a living parable for the world to see.  When we help our children learn how to eat or hold them through their seizures or carry them along a hike, we are living out God’s love and anyone who sees us sees the Father.

            Theologians debate God.  Evangelists promote God.  Pastors preach God.  Athiests mock God.  But you?  You show God.  You are the most effective prophets and evangelists that this world has to offer because what you carry is love in its purest form. 

            In closing, a quick reminder: we can only give away that which we have received.  Allow yourself to be freely loved by our Heavenly Father so that you can freely love your child.

A moment to reflect:

How do you prepare yourself to love your child each day?