The Blessing of Seeing Like Father, Like Son

Spilled milk, toothbrush struggles and collared shirt refusals. That's how our Father's Day started out with John Caden this morning. In the midst of these one year old battles, a mommy easily forgets that he will not stay one forever---he will indeed grow up quickly and be a young man one day. I was reminded of this very thing during our worship service at Christ Community Church this morning---specifically I was encouraged by the love that I saw evidenced between a father and a son. One of our friends, Jeff Holton, was ordained as a deacon this morning. Jeff's father being an ordained officer himself attended our church this morning and was able to participate in Jeff's ordination. Mr. Holton's face understandably was beaming with delight. What a blessing it was to see Malachi 4:6 before our very eyes: "He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers." It served as a great encouragement to me to continue to "Look up and look ahead." In talking to Mr. Holton after the service, he was quick to point out that it was not of his or his wife's own doing but of the Lord's mercy and grace that Jeff's heart had been captured by the gospel. Only God of course can give our children spiritual life. As Jean Fleming says in A Mother's Heart, "God doesn't need our help, but in His sovereign plan He invites us to take part actively, to co-labor with Him as He works in their lives." The daily trifles as we experienced in trying to get our children out the door to church this morning often blur our eternal perspective. Sally Clarkson in The Mission of Motherhood reminds us to ask ourselves these questions to help us keep our focus: "What did you do with those precious eternal human beings that I entrusted into your hands? Did you sacrifice your own life to give them my life? Did you pass on my purposes? Did you do the work in your children that will result in praise to my names throughout all of eternity?" Tomorrow morning when I'm wiping the sticky fingers of a one year old, I hope that I will not just see them as fingers to be cleaned, but rather I pray that I'll be more mindful to see them as hands that need to be nurtured and equipped so that by God's grace and mercy, thirty something years from now, they, like his own dad's, will be serving Christ, his family, and his church.

Tim's Elder Ordination October 2005