I have often struggled with the connection between the seeming idealism of my faith in Christ with the very real realities of everyday life. Probably much like you, my day is often crammed from start to finish. With children ages 4 months, 3 years and 7 years the days start and end with a bang, and, with a newborn, oftentimes their is no beginning or end to a day - days tend to blend into each other with chunks of sleep here and there. I often think: how do I take the ecstasy of spending time with God in worship and prayer and translate that into real life. The answer, often, is I don't know! I am an idealist. I crave pondering big thoughts. My job is often at the 30,000 foot view and that fits me well. Until I get home. There the demands of diapers, cleaning, discipline, and discipling my children slaps me in the face like a tsunami crashes against the shoreline. I am thankful that my wife is very much a realist and had prepared me for reality many years before we had children. Because, unlike Beauty and the Beast; Cinderella; and the Little Mermaid, our days and weeks often don't have fairy tale endings. It can be depressing for us idealists and quite confirming for pessimists. And I am left with the question: how does the beautiful truth of Scripture work out in real life?
Maybe you have asked yourself this same question. I wouldn't be surprised. Life is hard. Life presses us from every side. And to make matters worse every one, and I mean almost every one, seems to have the answer to how to deal with the disconnect between our idealism and reality. Try harder. Read this book. Go to the gym. Eat some chocolate. And we try to bridge the gap, but the bridge always seem to collapse and we are left with the same question unanswered. What is it about this longing for something more beautiful and experientially greater than our present reality? And why does this seed of hope that there is something better often gets squelched by reality? The reality that you aren't connecting with your kids. The reality that your spouse is talking about leaving you. The reality that your finances have made it almost impossible to put food on the table, let alone pay the bills. Life just seems to press in and bury that God-planted seed of hope deeper and deeper until we forget about its presence. And we end up in a place of hopelessness and despair because we forget that God is working in our lives.
Exodus 33, of all passages, addresses this issue. It has one of the most intriguing verses. You may remember that Moses used to pitch a tent during his wanderings with the Israelites in the desert, named the Tent of Meeting, where he would meet with God. When Moses would go to the tent the pillar of cloud would come down and cover the entrance of the tent while Moses spoke with God. In verse 11, the writer records that "The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man who speaks with his friend." Now this is were it gets interesting. "Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua son of Nun did not leave the tent." Moses would spend time in God's presence, but because Moses had to lead his people, he would go back to the camp, where reality happens, and lead the people. Joshua, however, stayed in the tent. I don't necessarily know why. Maybe he didn't want to ever miss the action when Moses was there and God was speaking to him. Maybe God was preparing his heart for the mission that he would be completing after Moses passed away. I don't know. But I do know this. He stayed in the tent. He remained in a place that, frankly, most of us would like to remain, in the place where God's presence seems most manifest and real. Most of us don't want to go back to the camp, where reality tends to contrast the magnificence of God's manifest presence. But that is exactly what God asks us to do. To spend time with him and go back to camp (i.e. raising kids, work, dealing with imperfect relationships).
But, and this is what distinguishes the Christian from the person who is not a follower of Christ, God promised to go with us wherever we go. Maybe like me your journey into this way of thinking is in its elementary stages; it's just beginning. It's a slow process learning, experientially, that God is everywhere. Not just in the musical worship and extended times of prayer, as wonderful as they are; but, in the changing diapers, the resolving of heartbreaking conflict, and the emotional desert of shame, guilt and loneliness. God is there. He always has been there, is there, and will always be there. He is there - where it hurts the most, where you question him the most, in the cavernous depths of your shame. That is where God is - he is there.
I envision passing this truth onto our children, not just cognitively, but actually experiencing this truth with them. What I am currently doing in concert with the Holy Spirit is asking Him to open my eyes up to his presence in all things and then discuss that with my children. For some unknown reason when I talk this way to Abigail (my 4 month-old daughter) she stares at me like I have an octopus strapped to my neck. More promising though is my toddler and 7-year old, who can now understand in their developmentally appropriate ways, the presence of Christ in all things. When someone smiles at them, I remind them that God created that smile, and, because all good things come from God, he is the one who smiled at you. He smiles at us. When we talk about Gabe's day at school, we have a conversation (well, more like a 30 second conglomeration of thoughts from Gabe) about how God is showing up in his classroom. If you were to observe these conversations, they would not appear super-spiritual; just the opposite. You would recognize their elementaryness and my stumbling and fumbling to help my son make sense of this beautiful God we serve who is everywhere. But, like you, my desire is to disciple my child in a winsome and joy-filled manner that points him to the Savior who is always there, always present with us. Won't you join the crazy, adventurous and purpose-filled journey of discipling your children in this way with me?
How Do We Make This A Reality
1. Ask the Holy Spirit to open up your eyes to the way he is present in the minutiae of your life.
2. Share with your children what you have discovered about God's presence in all things.
3. Challenge your children to do 1 & 2 also.
4. Start small - commit to doing this a couple of times, and by God's grace, this might just become a regular practice, that is, sharing with each other where you see God working on a regular basis.
A Parent-In-Process,
Josh
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