Hearts & Hands

Those precious little ones -- they tug at my heart every time I think of them! I have found emotions I never knew I had, since the first one was born 5 years ago...and every one following has affected me continually. You know that joy: the mere thought of him brings a smile to your face; your heart swells as you see her in your mind's eye. I remember beginning to feel that with my own children years ago. But the intensity is great with these grandchildren...who can explain that???

There is great "joy in the journey" of life while that child is innocent. On the contrary, when he or she begins to allow her true self to show - that natural self-centeredness - it brings a twinge of pain to my heart. I see the natural bent to self and I am reminded how quickly we walk to the path of destruction. I want to lift my hands, hold her face, look into her eyesand say, "Sweetheart, follow the path to a right heart. Stay off the path that follows your natural self!"

In the Bible, Lamentations is a book of wailings that were written as a reminder of the fall of Jerusalem and the unavoidable tragedy caused by always wanting to "get your own way". The people are desperate, but not hopeless. Lamentations is a reminder of a God Who judges out of a heart of pure love, a God Who keeps His covenant to love forever.

Lamentations 2:19 "...Pour out your heart like water before the presence of the Lord; lift up your hands to Him for the lives of your little ones..."In your everyday life this week, every time you pour yourself a drink from a pitcher or you fill your glass from the door of the refrigerator, or run water in the tub, visualize pouring out your heart to God on behalf of your GrandBoy or your GrandGirl. When you lift up your hands to take a glass out of the cabinet, let that be a symbol of opening your hands in trust that He will be real in the heart of that little one. Ask Him to show immediately when ________ (insert your child's name) is putting her foot to the path ofself-centeredness. Ask Him to teach _________ to follow God's ways and not his/her own.

Finally, here another challenge for you personally: Lamentations 3:40-41"Let us examine and probe our ways, and let us return to the Lord. We lift up our heart and hands toward God in heaven..."

I pray that you will continually allow God to test your heart and your hands in every area of your life - every thought and every action.