By Krissa Rumsey
As the mother of two daughters, I worry constantly and I worry intensely. When my girls were babies, I enjoyed them, of course, but I always kept thinking, “It will be nice when they get older and I won’t have to worry so much.”
Or I would think, “I can’t wait until they can skillfully look both ways before crossing the street,” or “When they can navigate the stairs effortlessly, that will be so nice,” or even, “It will be so much easier when they can speak and tell me what they’re thinking.”
Yes, they became capable of all those things (you should see how great they are at crossing the street!) But, the worry has not gone away!
But, the worry has not gone away!
Now that they are pre-teens I worry about different things, and believe me, I am fully aware that this will only continue. I worry when they are at softball practice that someone will take a ball in the face (which just happened by the way, and my daughter survived it remarkably well).
At some point they will be allowed to operate a car by themselves, yes? And I suppose there will come a time when I will not know where they are at every moment of the day.
There are many fears I have for their physical well-being, but don’t get me started on their spiritual well-being. For now, Jim and I are still in charge of getting them to church and initiating conversations about faith in our daily lives, and joining them in bedtime prayer. At some point they will make their own choices about these things.
Jim and I are still in charge of getting them to church and initiating conversations about faith in our daily lives, and joining them in bedtime prayer. At some point they will make their own choices about these things.
Pastor Wentzel was visiting St. Luke on Sunday and spoke about the barbed shaped cross. He said that as a fisherman, this reminded him of a fishing hook. He went on further to explain that the cross that Jesus bore could be thought of as fishing hook.
It is a hook that has caught us, pure miserable sinners who worry, who stray, who make bad choices, who even experience hardship and pain for no reason other than we live in a world of sin. We are caught by the sacrifice of a savior who conquered death, and because of it we will not be shaken loose.
So, I will continue to worry because I’m really good at it. But I will also continue to remind myself that nothing can separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. (Romans 8:39, 39)
We are caught by the sacrifice of a savior who conquered death, and because of it we will not be shaken loose.
And I will substitute the word “us” with the names of my children. And I will remember that they have been caught by the cross of Christ like a fish that has been hooked and try as they might, the barb on the end of that hook won’t let them go.
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