Life Lesson From My Kid

There are times in life where you teach your children.  You can teach them how to tie their shoes or ride a bike.  You tell them not to chew with their mouth open.  You instill a desire to be respectful and gracious.  And you raise them doing the best you can, and pray that you don’t screw them up along the way.

And then, there are times where your child teaches you.

As I was visiting McKenna and her family a few weeks ago, I came out of my take-the-travel-dust-off shower and rounded the corner expecting to find McKenna holding Andros giving him the last bottle of the evening.  However, it was only Peyton in the living room.  She let me know that McKenna was upstairs with Andros trying to put him down for bed.

I wanted one last peek at him before I called it a night, and I also needed a hug from my girl whom I don’t get to see very often now that she’s living across the country.  I crept up to the door and gently pushed, praying it wouldn’t wake Andros with a sudden creak.  But I didn’t see them.  Momentarily surprised, I took a peek around the back of the door.  They weren’t there, either.  But as I pulled the door together again, the sliver of moon coming in the window allowed me to call attention to the crib.  There laid McKenna, cuddled up inside the crib, whispering to Andros as he fell asleep.

I didn’t teach this to McKenna.  And yet, McKenna felt a mommy desire to climb over the crib rails, hold Andros close, and remind him how much he was loved and protected as he drifted off into slumber.

In that moment, this verse came into my head.

Psalm 91:1-4 (NASB) “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.  I will say to the Lord, ‘My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!’  For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence.  He will cover you with His pinions, and under His wings you may seek refuge; His faithfulness is a shield and bulwark.”

Just as McKenna covered sweet Andros with her arms and is his refuge, God covers us with his wings where we may seek refuge.  He tells us to come to Him and let Him fight the battle for us.  He will protect us, yet far too often we try to be our own shield.  We attempt to defend ourselves from the fiery arrows of our enemies.  But His wings give us the shelter we desperately need and desire as we do battle with life and with the enemy.

Cry out to Him, “My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!”  Let Him fight for you as you have respite under his wings.  Let Him protect you as He longs to do.

~Erin