My Heavenly Father continues to shower me with His Eternal Love even despite my frustration.
My son had some surgery the other day. And though the surgery was not major surgery and though his recovery was relatively quick, he certainly had to be invested in his own recovery.
And what did that mean for a little twelve-year-old boy? Well, it meant that he was quite irritated by the idea that he had to take a moment to stop and rest, when all he really wanted to do was enjoy his school holidays pain-free.
At first, he was quite patient with the whole thing. After all, there is something rather nice about all the attention a child will get when they are not feeling well. Cousins and grandparents visit and they get extra cuddles from their mother and father and generally feel well-looked after and loved. However, that feeling soon grew old.
You see, that feeling of love is soon replaced with a frustration at one’s own limitations. And though the grandparents and cousins and parents continue to show the same love and extra care they always did, the child is now irritated by the whole exercise and instead wishes for the whole shebang to be over with.
And I have been thinking about that. You see, my sick son, recovering from surgery, is not really any different from God asking me to suffer for His sake and for the salvation of souls.
When God sees me accept the suffering that He allows in my life, He showers me with extra love. There is Grace and extra attention – extra cuddles from my Heavenly parent (so to speak). And at first, I can bear this sort of suffering quite well. After all, there is something nice about feeling like a chosen on. And something heartening about that feeling of being observed by God.
But – just as my son soon became frustrated with the time it would take for him to heal – so too do I become frustrated with my own calling from God. And just as my son rebelled a little against the requirements of his recovery, so too do I rebel against the requests of my Beloved. And just as my son – in his frustration – felt unloved by us despite the extra special attention and love we were showering on him, so too do I often feel unloved by my Beloved in the moment of my weakness and pain. And just as I – as my son’s mother – continued to shower him with extra attention and love during his recovery even despite his frustration, so too does my Heavenly Father continue to shower me with His Eternal Love even despite my frustration.
And I have been thinking about that today. You see, all my son needed to do during his period of recovery was to rest. And the more he rested the better he would heal and the stronger he would become. And all I am asked to do in this life, is to rest in Him who is my Saviour. That is all I am asked to do. And – in my frustration today – I thank God for that!
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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