Scary Things

On Father’s day, after worship, we went for lunch at a newly opened beach hotel. The food was good and after lunch we stayed on at the beach. Jonathan really like the beach and wanted to play, jumping into the waves. I was a little apprehensive as the waves seemed pretty rough but decided to go with Jonathan, staying close to the shore. There is a breakwater so I thought it would be pretty safe. We had a good time till a big wave swept me and Jonathan off our feet and we went under the water but we managed to get up. I thought Jon would be scared but when I asked him, he said that he was but he liked scary things. He wanted to stay on so we stayed for a little while more. Jeremy and Jonathan then played in the small swimming pool before they wanted to go back to play on the beach jumping into the waves again. I had them on each side of me that time. We were having fun till another big wave swept Jonathan off his feet. I reached down to get him when another wave came in and I lost my balance. Jeremy, by then, was down on the sand too. A few waves came in succession and for a second, I thought I’d lost them both. But I was able to push Jonathan further up the beach while a worker at the hotel managed to get hold of Jeremy. I had a hard time getting up as I must have hurt my knee when I fell, but was able to get out of the waves finally. Anthony wasn’t around as he was away retrieving a kite that Jeremy was flying before it got away. It was a scary experience but I thank God that He was with us and protected us from harm. Anyway, when we recovered and dried off, I told Anthony what happened and mentioned what Jonathan said about liking “scary things”.  Jon interrupted and told us, “I don’t like scary things anymore.”  I guess that the last wave was a little too much for him.

Looking back, what scares me most is what Jonathan said about liking scary things.  I can’t help but think of what he might get himself into in the future. I have to remind myself that not to worry but to trust God to take care of him. As his mom, my job is to be there for him, to teach him and to lift him up to our Heavenly Father.

Reward for a Job Well Done

The day before Father’s day, I helped my boys made a little booklet card for Anthony. Jeremy was excited at first but then started to whine as he thought that it was too much work. He needed some pushing but finally got it done. Just before he went to bed that night, he enthusiastically added some finishing touch to the booklet, all excited about giving it to daddy.

The next day at breakfast, when Jeremy gave the card to daddy, he was so pleased and happy that daddy loved the card and started telling daddy how he put the card together. In all his excitement, he had forgotten that it was pretty hard work to put the card together. When I asked him whether it was worth all the hard work, he smiled and agreed that it was worth it because daddy like it and it made daddy happy.

It reminded me that our Christian life is just like that, following Jesus is not always easy. We have to work hard at it because of our sinful nature but won’t it be worth it all when we see God’s approval as he says “Well done”.

 

A Good Day

“Dear God, Thank you for a good day……and give me a good day tomorrow………amen.”

 That’s always part of the prayer that my older son, Jeremy says every night. For a while, I have been telling him that he should not always say the same thing every night and to not always think about himself and the “give me”. Then it occurred to me that it’s his faith and trust in God to give him a good day. In his mind, a good day can only come from God and it’s OK to ask His Father to give it to him daily. No wonder Jesus said “let the little children come to me, for such is the kingdom of heaven”. For many of us, we would never feel right to ask God for a good time, or a good day. We may ask Him to guide us or provide what we need, but a good day…(at least for me)  no, it just doesn’t seem right to ask for that. So instead, we trust in ourselves to have a good day, to do things that will make our day pleasant and most of the time, at the end of our day, we cannot say that we have a good day.  Maybe, the reason why our days are not so good is because we do not ask. “You do not have because you do not ask” (James 4:2).

For Jeremy, he asks God for a good day and when the day is over, he thanks God for the good day. It does not matter whether he has “boo boos” or that he is disappointed over some things….it is a good day and he can go to sleep and wake up to have another good day. Oh, how good it is to be a child and just trust in our Heavenly Father to give us a good day

 

 

If at first ...

I have always enjoyed cooking and that means trying out new recipes and “perfecting” old ones. Sometimes, the food doesn’t always turn out like it should. For me the food I cooked never turn out the same, even though I may use the same ingredients. The day before, I made some cinnamon rolls and dinner rolls. They were the best ever, soft and ymmmmm so good, (even if I say so myself). Actually my husband and kids rave about those rolls. A thought just came to mind. The rolls were so good because I had the previous ones (not so good ones) to compare with. It’s as though God is impressing on me that all our previous experiences in life counts, whether good or bad, to mold us into what He wants us to be. And if, I stopped baking just because my rolls weren’t that good, I would have missed out on some good ones.

So, don’t be discouraged by some bad experience, let God use it to teach you and mold you.