And so....young mothers desiring to be good ones....

I read.  If I could get paid to read, I'm pretty sure I'd have more money than you.  I'm fascinated most by people's stories.  I don't have to agree with them.  I am just intrigued by the tapestry.

Currently, I'm reading Kisses From Katie by Katie Davis.  She is a 20 year old girl who walks away from her "normal American Tennessee life" to live in Uganda.  She ends up adopting several children during her first year and lives in a constant state of dependence on God.  Her biggest surprise is how much she could love these children, many of  whom she cannot even communicate with.  She learns, that is, what it is to be a mother.  And it got me to thinking.

I remember, with my first child, literally thinking...."today I parented perfectly."  That was my goal.  To be perfect.  I was terminally ill with that goal.  I did not lose my temper.  I kept him from acquiring any scratches or bruises.  I kept "bad people, bad influences" away from him.   I had a perfectly organized house.  I gave my child nutritious meals and clean clothes.  I bathed him.  I hugged and kissed him.  I read to him.  I just generally had it going on.  Of course, he was 3 months old.  But still.

24 years and six kids later, I look back and I wonder. In all those years of growing those little people, those "greenhouse" years, if you will,  one of my fears (there's that word again), one of my highest priorities, was that no one would taint them, that is, "mess up" my agenda for them.  I wanted, for them, joy and safety and as little disappointment as possible.  I wanted chocolate cookies to pass out to them after their naps in the afternoon.  I wanted Bible stories and church picnics.  I wanted healthy well baby checkups.  These were my children.  My children.  I would and did protect them at all costs.  I would die for them.

Back to Katie.  She is describing this life she chose for herself in Uganda.  The filth and poverty are overwhelming.  The needs are beyond what most of us even think of needing.  Not only does she adopt several children but she continually opens up her home to other villagers.  One day she becomes aware of children living in a home that is completely consumed with scabies.  She takes them to the doctor and is made aware of the process for healing them and decides to have them live with her during that process, since their biological family is unable to help them.  Scabies, folks, is incredibly contagious.  My own daughter from China had it when we first adopted her.  Left untreated can cause serious illness.   This young woman worried that bringing contagious children into her own home with her own children might not be the "responsible" thing to do. That is a reasonable thing for a loving mother to worry about.

But then....God.  He reminded her that He'd sent His own Son;  that "whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake..."  And so she took those scabies ridden children in and.....this is the point....she knew that, at the end of the day, the God who loved her children even more than she did would protect them.  He would either keep them free from illness OR....they would get scabies and God would see them through it.  Did you catch that?  I had to read it twice.  Either outcome.....was still God for them.

How many choices had I made in raising my own children that seemed like the loving, responsible thing to do....but lacked  the heart of the Protector of us all?

Psalm 62:7....."He is my strong protector.  He is my shelter."