Life begins with love

Life as a parent is always interesting. Just when I think I have seen it all, our kids will take it to a whole new level. Lately, the challenge has been trying to teach Hayden to walk. Maybe I should say, teaching Hayden to walk correctly. Hayden has been walking for a few years now and has the whole bit down. So, you can imagine that I would think we were done with the whole walking thing. But oh no! Our kids strive to keep things exciting. Recently, Hayden has taken to walking and not watching where he is going. This new feat takes many forms including walking backwards and sideways, but Hayden’s favorite seems to be walking forward with his head turned backward. I supposed in an open field or a padded room, this behavior would be of little consequence. The trouble is we don’t live in an open field, though I have considered the padded room option recently. Hayden’s new “skill” has been met with varying success. He loves it. Our walls and his head do not. Right now the count is two holes knocked in the sheetrock and I have lost count on the times he has straddled a door, post, or chair. He has hit his head so many times that I am convinced that his noggin will be permanently knobby and multi-colored. Basically, we are thinking long hair and a delay on dating are probably in order.

I don’t always catch Hayden performing his new “skill,” though I certainly hear the outcome. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. WHAM! It is actually a rather catchy rhythm. Try it out few times fast. When I do catch him in the act, I find that the same words come out of my mouth. “Hayden, you have to watch where you are going.” By now I know he is tired of hearing me say it. But honestly, is it really that hard? I mean, his head is hard, but one day his hard head is going to meet an even harder surface and the hole isn’t going to be on the surface. He just thinks it’s funny. With a grin and a giggle he is off, looking back at me the whole time. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. WHAM!

I suppose I could just chalk it all up to one of those parenting moments we will one day look back on and laugh. Maybe. I suppose that depends on the level of head trauma we experience between now and then. What I am learning is that God often speaks through my kids, through their actions and my reactions. God is in those moments, shaping and reshaping me. Most recently it hit me, no pun intended, that I make my way through life a lot like Hayden. I walk this way and that, never really watching where I am going, my body going one direction and my attention another. It doesn’t take long before I hit a wall or straddle a post. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. WHAM! I wonder if in these moments if God doesn’t chuckle and say, “Blake, you have to watch where you are going.”

God designed life to be lived a certain way. When you boil it all down, life is pretty simple. God designed us to live in a whole-hearted loving relationship with him and others (Matthew 22.24-40). Another way of saying it is, God designed us to live by looking first to him and then to others. As we move through life, we are first  to fix our gaze completely on God. Sometimes that seems so rigid, so boring. There are so many wonderful and interesting things to focus on in life like my career, my pleasures, my passions and desires. Basically, I like to look at me. I don’t mind following along the path God has set in life, I would just like to walk it by looking at myself and not God. Basically, I am confident that I have the skill to walk and not watch where I am going. Pitter. Patter. Pitter. Patter. You know the rest.

God didn’t design life  be lived in this way. He has a path for each of us to walk, a path seen in the life of Christ. It is a path that leads to a good and wonderful life. If we are going to walk that path, we each have to consent to watching where we are going. We have to come to the point in our lives where our gaze is first and foremost fixed on the one who made us and loves us. In so doing we will find that life simply becomes pitter, patter, pitter, patter, pitter, patter.

A fellow traveler,

Blake Shipp

Spiritual Formation Pastor

What is my next step?

I encourage you to consider the following as a way of handing off faith to your family. . .

Become a Matthew 22.34-40 family: This week, consider making Matthew 22.34-40 part of your family’s rhythms. One way you might do this is by praying this text with your kids before they go to bed each night and discussing in what ways they were able to show love for God and others that day. Another option might be having a discussion based on Matthew 22.34-40 as you reflect on the day’s events at the dinner table each evening. At the very least, consider displaying this text in a prominent place in your home so that it will serve as a visual reminder of how God desires people to live.

I encourage you to consider the following as a way of nurturing your own faith. . .

Memorize Matthew 22.34-40: We can learn to live as God has called us to live when we take the truth about life into the depths of our being and make it a part of who we are. One easy way to do this is through Scripture memory. In memorizing Scripture we make it a part of who we are so that it can shape and guide us. This week, seek to memorize Matthew 22.34-40, a Scripture passage that speaks about the very essence of the good life. You might memorize this passage by writing it down on an index card and carrying it with you through the day so that you can reference it. At a minimum, seek to review your card when you get up in the morning, at lunch, and right before you go to bed. As the text finds its place in your mind, review it and meditate upon it throughout your day. Allow God to speak to you through this verse. You might consider journaling what God says to you through this verse and sharing these thoughts with your spouse or your community group.