Good Sight

Photo Credit:  jmiltenburg from morgueFile.com

I have a great story that I want to share from Mikey’s Funnies:

Do you know the legend of the American Indian youth's rite of passage?  A father takes his son into the forest, blindfolds him, and leaves him alone.  The boy is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.  He cannot cry out for help to anyone.

Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.  He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.

Here is one boy’s experience of that night:  He is naturally terrified.  He can hear all kinds of noises.  He feels that wild beasts must surely be all around him.  He’s afraid that some human might even do him harm.  The wind blows the trees, grass, and earth and shakes his stump, but he sits stoically, never removing the blindfold.  It is the only way he can become a man.

Finally, after a horrific night in the forest, the sun appears and he removes his blindfold.  It is then that he discovers his father sitting on the stump next to him.  He had been at watch the entire night, protecting him from harm.

"Don't be afraid, for I am with you; don't be distressed, for I am your God.  I give you strength; I give you help.  I support you with my victorious right hand." (Isaiah 41:10)

Oh, how that legend really hit home with me!  The father was there the whole time, keeping constant watch over his precious child.  Every single teeny, tiny, itty, bitty second…he was there.

Goodness, doesn’t that sound strangely familiar?!  Our Father is beside us the whole time, keeping constant watch over us, His precious children.  However, don’t we many times close our eyes and not realize that He’s there?

This Thanksgiving, I think I will pray for the gift of good sight…er, God-sight.  I will continue to ask God to help me see Him in other people, the hills and valleys of this life, the sufferings and the joys, the ordinary days and extraordinary days, and every drop of rain and each rainbow in between.  He’s there.

I was also reminded of God’s great love in the voice of a little girl.  I was sharing some trail mix with my daughter’s friend and she said, “Oh, I just love the M&M’s, don’t you?  I pick through all that other stuff just to find them.” 

Yes.  Yes, I do.  I love the M&M’s too.  Let us remember to sort through the things we may not love about our day and find the sweet blessings in the mix.

As I smile today remembering that sharing, I ask the Lord to bestow on all of us a child-like faith this Thanksgiving.  In Matthew 19:14, Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Please join me in praising and thanking God for the many marvelous things He has done for us!  Let us also pray that we allow others to catch a glimpse of Christ in everything we do and say each day.  What a beautiful world this can be if we remember to make ourselves available to the Lord, so that He can use our very lives as instruments to bring others to know and love Him!

Who do we hope will catch a glimpse of Christ through us?  Everyone really…friends, strangers, neighbors, family, our spouse, and our children down the hall.

For you moms out there, I found some tidbits of awesomeness that I just had to share from Kelley’s blog.  She writes, “Be the mom you want them to remember.  The mom I want my children to remember is humble and willing to admit that she’s not a perfect mom.  I want them to remember that she’s depending on God to help her to be the mom they need.”  (Oooh – I just LOVE that!)

Kelley says, “I want my children to remember a gentle mom who gives grace when she can and discipline when necessary.  I want them to remember me pushing them to do their best and knowing that I’ll be there loving them regardless.  I want them to remember that I am a work in progress, just like they are, and that we can be a team – pushing each other toward the people God wants us to be.”

Kelley shares, “It’s okay to fail because kids need to know their parents aren’t perfect either.  You don’t want to be remembered as the perfect mom, but instead the mom that was demonstrating humility, love, grace, truth, gentleness, patience, and repentance.  Let them remember the real you.”  (Good stuff, Kelley!)

So, as we celebrate Thanksgiving, let us pray for good, God-sight!  May we truly “see” God in the people and happenings around us.  And, let us pray for the grace to be the mom (or dad) that we want our children to remember.

May you and your families feel abundantly blessed this Thanksgiving and all the days in between.  And, here are two of my Thanksgiving poems if you missed them the first time around:  “A Special Guest” and “Three-Sixty-Four.”

Have a wonderful, thankful week, Sunshines!  Happy Thanksgiving!