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Today's Lenten Devotion
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Finding Our Way
How can a young man keep his way pure?
By living according to your word.
-- Psalm 119:9
This verse first jumped out at me when I was asked by Dennis if I was interested in writing a devotion. I thought it would feel right because the one thing I know I can relate to are my sons who are now "young men" just like the above verse. I soon realized that this Psalm was not just about the young, but about all of us trying to find our way in a world full of temptation and choices.
The foundation of my parenting has always been embedded in God's word. Each day begins with a prayer of thanks for the gifts of my husband and my sons. I promise God everyday that I will do my best to take care of these precious gifts that he has entrusted to me. My prayer of thanks has always been followed with a soft plea of help and guidance. Is there any parent out there who has not felt alone and frightened, unsure of the right thing to do or say?!
The most important thing to me as a parent is for my children to feel loved and safe. I wanted them to know Jesus and to feel His loving arms around them. How do we know for sure that their faith will be strong enough to get them through the tough times? We don’t.
But we hope, we pray, and we pray some more. We teach them about how much Jesus loves them, we keep talking and more importantly we keep listening ...
The gentle, quiet signs are there if we let ourselves see them and be comforted by them. One of the saddest days of my life was when my Mom passed away after a brief fight with a terrible cancer. The boys and I were staying in my parents' home in North Carolina and it was becoming very obvious that her death would be soon. As I slept in a chair next to my mom, the boys slept in a bedroom not very far away. During the night I was awakened by an unexplainable noise that to this day I know was heaven sent to wake me so I could tell this gentle woman one more time how much I loved her before she died.
I woke my boys the next morning, they were 8 and 5 at the time, and I prayed I would have the right words to say when the questions came pouring out. Peace soon filled my heart when the first thing they wanted to know was if I got to see the angels when they came to take her to heaven. I knew their hearts were pure when the next thing they wanted to know was whether or not their Grandpa knew, and was he going to be O.K.
Life will always be filled with impurities, choices we all have to make. It isn't as easy as turning off the offensive music, changing the channel on the TV, or setting up the parental blocks on the computer. A dear friend once shared her outlook with me about raising children and how overwhelming it can feel. She said: If we keep filling their heads and hearts with good and loving things then there will be less and less room for the bad stuff to get in.
So how can a young man, old man, young woman, old woman, any man, any woman keep his way pure? By filling our hearts and heads with God’s word and not leaving any room for the bad stuff.
Alison Beal
alison959@msn.com
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