Reason #692

Last night, I dreamed that Scout turned into a little girl. We were standing in line, waiting to go to the restroom, and all of the sudden she morphed into a little girl with curly black hair. Odd, the things our mind makes up. I suppose when your pet portrays your child in your dreams, you might be a little too obsessed with your dog.

 

Anyway, in my dream, Scout (aka little girl with curly black hair) was sick. I was trying to help her but all of these other women were standing around her doing my mom job. I just stood there watching, not really sure what I was supposed to do. And when I woke up, I was really bothered by this. I wondered what it’s like to see your child sick. To simply have to watch them feel bad and not be able to do anything for them. I mean really, what do sick and hurting children want? Mom! They want her comfort, her love, her protection. They want her to make it all better. That’s a big role to fill!

 

What would you do if you knew your child was going to be born sick? What would you do if you knew they would die at an early age? What if you knew that your child was going to face an incredible amount of heartache during their lifetime? Walk through a horrifying tragedy? What if, before your child was born, you knew that they were going to be a criminal or an outcast? What if you knew they would struggle with addiction their whole lives? Would you change your mind about even having children if you knew they would face one of these options? Would you sacrifice your desire to be a mother so that you didn’t bring someone into a situation like that? What if you knew that no matter what your child  faced, you couldn’t stop it? You were going to have to watch and hurt with them, but you wouldn’t be able to change it. Would you still choose to be their mother?

 

I just keep going back to Mary. About the fact that it was her choice to give birth to Jesus. And here’s the thing, I don’t know if Mary knew everything Jesus was going to face, but she knew she wasn’t having an “ordinary” child. She wasn’t giving birth to a baby and wondering what he would be when he grew up. Even though she may have had plans and dreams for him, it wasn’t about what she wanted. Because He was born to be the Savior of the world, and although no one really knew what that looked like exactly, I can figure she knew it wasn’t going to be the easiest road to walk.

 

I don’t know if Mary knew her son would be hated. I don’t know if she knew people would reject Him. She probably had no clue that she was going to bury her son when He was only 33 after watching Him suffer through the most gruesome death. I doubt Mary knew that her son was going to face 40 days of temptation in the desert or that his life would be in jeopardy for years. Mary didn’t know he would be so stressed that he would sweat drops of blood, that he would be betrayed by his own friend, or that he would spend the majority of his life on the road away from home. Mary didn’t know what God had in store for Jesus. All Mary knew was that God had a plan for Him.

 

It’s often in the pain, the hurt, the sorrow, the tragedies that we see God’s plan. A plan for redemption. A plan of salvation. It’s not in the perfection that we see God. We see Him in the hospital rooms, at the funerals, in the divorce courts, at rehab, behind bars, and in the trenches. We don’t find Him in the pristine, we find Him in the middle of the mess. Because that’s just life. It’s messy and it’s hard and none of us are excused from it. But praise the Lord that He came to meet us in those place. That He came to live out God’s perfect plan, not because it was easy, but because it was necessary.

 

God has a plan for our lives. A good plan and a tough plan, but a perfect plan. We may not see it as we’re going through it, and we may not see it on this side of Heaven. But His plan for our lives is necessary. No one’s is a mistake. Because we never know what lies ahead. Good or bad, we just trust that God will work it out. And so, like Mary, we believe God and we allow Him to work in our lives. He’s not asking us to figure it out, or to even try and fix it, He’s just asking us to be willing and when we are, God’s perfect plan plays out in a most effective and beautiful way.

 

#692 - Because He knew us before we were born and had a good and perfect plan in place for our lives.

 

"Praise the Lord, the God of Israel, because he has visited and redeemed his people." - Luke 1:68