The chatting of a heart is an ongoing flow. Mouths sometimes stop but hearts don't. What if we actually believe that God knows our heart's every motive, every ache, every care...things may suddenly look very new and real. We wouldn't have to keep worrying about tripping over our words or jumbling up some precious story. The heart would be the teller of all... The motives behind our lips would be the very conversation He has been waiting on. Just you and Him. You. Him.
I am trying something with my daughter. She is very young but her emotions are like powerful waves that come in with a tide. What if every time I see the welling up of tears with a frown that drops to the floor, I ask her, "Sweetie, how's your heart feeling right now?" Maybe if she stops to wonder about wild things such as this, she may begin working that puzzle of handling her emotions. So many children seem to be completely out of control, not realizing where they stand or how to react to what they feel on the inside in a God-honoring way. They simply have not be taught.
God gave us feelings. He gave us the desire to cheer others up, the passion that can break a stone wall, the beginning of all those "good intentions." What will we do with them? Will our little ones grow to know emotions are healthy and the reactions we choose are important? The first step in learning to deal with situations that arise in life is knowing what your heart is feeling in the first place. Many times stopping to question this will allow grace to move in and settle things down a bit.
In a call to move on raising this generation in a way that they know who they are and what they feel and how God feels about it, I am putting 3 words out there:
Ask. Share. Decide.
We should start by praying over our children the next couple of days. We could ask the Lord to point out the breaking points we have with them and the areas where mercy is hard to find. Let us prepare our hearts to hear how we as parents should ask, share, and decide with every situation.
Next Post - Ask what? Share what? Decide about what?
