Last year my word was SHED and it happened - let me tell you! It wasn't easy to let go, but it was good.
My word for this year is REFUGE.
I honestly have no idea what to think about that. Am I to be a refuge? Will I need to take refuge? I just don't know - we shall see. This I do know - this verse is in my thoughts constantly:
Whoever fears the Lord has a secure fortress,
and for their children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26
and for their children it will be a refuge. Proverbs 14:26
It just hits me in so many ways. I have walked in fear of the wrong thing- sometimes without realizing it - for long stretches of my life. That was one thing God helped me shed last year. It is easier to let go of something if you have a new thought pattern or habit to help you move forward. This one tells me where to direct that fear - towards the Lord. Not necessarily in an "angry God" kind of way, although sometimes we need that too; but in a putting God in his rightful place - awe, wonder, majesty, grace, love. Be overwhelmed by that this year - for your sake and for your kids!
Look back up at Proverbs, did you see what that fear does? It builds a fortress! You need a fortress when you are in a battle. We are hoping that building a bubble around our kids will keep them safe. People, bubbles burst - they need a fortress!! The goal of parenting is to release them into the world. Spoiler alert - the world is not safe - it is yucky, hard, unpredictable, and just tough. It is wise to keep them safe for a time (apps, friends, limits, etc.); however, they are going to need more than that. They are watching to see what to do when the bubble bursts. Where do you turn when yuck happens? When the hard comes? Do you go to Facebook? a real book? google the problem? drink, drugs? food? video games and TV shows? crafting? a friend or parent? ignore it and hope for the best? run away? anger? fear? offer platitudes? work harder? All of these (might) have their place, but if they don't see us crack a Bible, pray for help, cry a little, get a bit of righteous anger going on, read Psalms for comfort and strength, ask friends to pray with us - they will not know they can turn to God with the yuck. They will find refuge in the WRONG things - not a secure fortress but shifting sand and unsteady waves. They will lead bubble lives - ready to pop any second.
Promises like this help:
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers,39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38
As you read that, did you remember whose you are? That's the kind of "fear" we want - the overwhelming grip of God's love on our kid's lives and our own. This truth builds a fortress, not a bubble. Let life come at you because you are part of the eternal story of the God of the universe and you are secure in him alone. Here's the deal. We need refuge; they will need refuge. This world is not getting easier to live in. However, when we live in the fear of the Lord, when (not if) we are afraid we will turn to him - because he is bigger than ALL of this mess! That's the hope we can hold out to our children. That's the Gospel - the good news - Jesus lived this crazy life too - he gets it and HE OVERCAME IT ALL - yes that's what the resurrection means. In fact, Jesus is interceding for them as their advocate at the right hand of the Father (Romans 8:34). What better refuge is there???? There is an accuser - but it is not God.
Are you building a secure fortress by showing them where to flee - into His word, into the fellowship of believers, to the throne of God?
Where are you teaching them to run in times of trouble?
In my house we have a print of this picture:
It's Rembrandt's "The Return of the Prodigal Son". That's what I want for my kids. If they find themselves eating slop with the pigs, I want them to remember their good Father God who is WATCHING for them to return home and RUNS to welcome them back. One shoe on and one shoe off - he embraces them and celebrates their return. If their friends end up in the slop - I hope that they can usher them back to a loving father as well. I want to add, that the older brother isn't better. He doesn't understand the love of the father in the story and maybe ever. Kids who are dutiful but don't know their father well enough to ask for a fatted calf lack a refuge as well. They may look better, but they have built their own fortress - pride, judgement, disdain, achievement - it's a culturally acceptable bubble and it will burst.
May we build ourselves up in the word this year, so that our fear of the Lord may serve as a refuge for our children. Praying that this year we will be fortress builders, not bubble builders.
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