Delight

I had an enjoyable week. A very busy week. One of the appointments was with a new friend who was putting together a Bible study on parenting. The course she outlined grabbed my attention. Even though I am a grandmother now, I could see the advantage of the course and hope to be in her class. One of the things that impressed me was the word 'delight'. She said many times parents are so involved in their own agenda and lives they forget to delight in their children. I thought back and remembered I had made the same mistake often. Thus I write to you today to encourage you to take time to delight in your children.

God is our perfect example, the perfect parent. He goes to great length to impress on us how delighted He is with us. By delight, I mean He dances with joy over our existence. Scripture tells us over and over the depth, width and height of His love for us. I have no doubt that if I were to run up to Him, His outstreched arms would scoop me up, His smile and laughter would fill the air and He would receive me unconditionally. Do we extend this to our children?

Do we require our children to jump through hoops beyond their ability to make us feel good, look good and to make up for what we are not, to make up for our shortcomings? Do we try to redo our lives through them and get embarassed because their feelings, attitudes, actions or words do not measure up to our expectations. If they can not feel, think or act out of line in front of us, if they are required to be superkids at home all the time, when do they get to make mistakes and grow up in the confidence of our love for them?

When children have a safe place to land at home, when they believe we delight in them, accept them, believe in them, delight in them, they can face anything in the world. Just as we can face anything in the world because we know God, our parent, is in our corner, accepts us, believes in us and delights in us.

Look at your child's face. Are they depressed, sad, unhappy, fearful, discouraged? Have they quit trying and seem rejected? We are the soft place, the safe place, their cheerleader. They will know if we show delight in our eyes or welcome them in our arms.

Look up 'delight' in the Scriptures and see how many times the Lord delights in us.