Saturday, March 19 Read Ephesians 5:6-20
For once you were in darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light – for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. Ephesians 5:8-9
Children of Light
My children love to create things. Thatcher – my cerebral child – makes planes, cars and ships with Legos. Brynn – my free spirit – is more artistic. She often falls asleep with crayons and drawings littering her bed. And Emerson – well, she’s the youngest. As such, she feels compelled to partake in everything. Special emphasis on the take part. Consequently, I often find crayons, colored pencils and Legos strewn throughout our house.
Of course, I never find these things during the day. No, that would be too easy. Instead, those little plastic, wax or wooden demons wait until cover of night when everyone is asleep and then ambush my feet when I least expect it. I can only presume those little manmade deviants are laughing at me as I try to swallow back a few choice words so I don’t wake someone.
Darkness, however, is not only the blackness of night that hides my children’s artistic implements of torture. More often than not, it’s the mask adults put on to hide self-perceived flaws, conflicted emotions or misdeeds. We hide our embarrassment, shame, anger or even desire. Instead of admitting our emotions, we wrap them in a shroud of darkness and heave them onto our emotional backs.
Now, anyone who has spent much time around children realizes this concept of darkness is completely foreign to them. Most children – mine especially – wear their emotions on their sleeves. As a result, an onslaught of emotions manifested in laughter, tears, yelling and fighting can spill forth from them, sometimes in a matter of moments. This behavior is emotionally messy, but it is real and it is pure.
As a parent, you respond to the feelings of your children. When happiness overtakes them, you rejoice. When grief grabs ahold of their hearts and pours itself out in tears, you comfort and cradle them. And when anger balls their fists, squints their eyes and alters their breathing, you are there to talk sense to them and help them to find peace.
God wants to do all of these things for us no matter our age. He is our Father. Like any parent, he wants his children to be happy. Also, he wants to help us. He wants us to come out of the darkness and lay our emotional loads at his feet. Then, he will let the love we need wash over and restore us. Through this process, he takes away the darkness and suffering, and he helps us live in the light as children.
Dallas Rakestraw
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