His Eye Is On The Sparrow

Last night, we had an overdue date night. It has been a couple of months since we were able to get away, and we needed it! Being parents makes it so easy to forget that we are also husband and wife. It is much easier to respond to a diaper that needs changing than it is to respond to a spouse in need of attention and affection, so all too often, we put our children ahead of each other. True, it's practical, and sometimes necessary, but when it becomes an uninterrupted habit, it isn't right! Thanks to a sister who was willing to watch the babies and a husband who is intentional enough to arrange for her to come over, we went to dinner. 

On the way, we somehow started talking about the things our children would be taught by the world. We talked about how they'll hear that the world came to be without a Creator. Oh, how I wish I could keep them from hearing that. So much of our worth is tied up in the reality that we were specifically, carefully, masterfully created in the image of our Heavenly Father. 

Psalm 139 beautifully describes our individual creation story: 

"For your created my inmost being;

You knit me together in my mother's womb.

I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;

Your works are wonderful,

I know that full well.

...

Your eyes saw my unformed body;

all the days ordained for me we were written in your book

before one of them came to be."

A Bible study that Christopher is a part of offered helpful insight into the stages of faith development. Right now, our children are curious and collecting information that will form the foundation that they build on for the rest of their lives. They are in, or entering into, a phase during which they will believe what they are told by trusted sources. Because God has placed us in the ever-humbling role as parents, it's our job to tell them the basic truths that will prayerfully carry them through all of the godless origin-of-life theories they will hear in their lifetime. 

So what are we teaching them, specifically? Right now, the things we've started telling them are:

God made all things, including Sarah Claire and Luke!

God cares for all living things - even the birds in the air. We can trust that He will take care of us too!

The verse that we've been focusing on is this: 

"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth." - Genesis 1:1

Being a parent has sort of put me on the fast-track of spiritual education - not because I'm a good student - trust me, I'm lacking more than I care to admit - but because the lessons that used to be one-sided now carry double meanings. What I mean by that is, before I had babies, when I learned something about my identity as God's child, I understood it as a child would, comprehending what it meant about and for me. Now, because I'm a parent, I get not only a new understanding of my role as a child of God, but I get a glimpse of God's parental love and provision for me. For instance, when I'm teaching my children about God's care for His creation, especially us, I don't just see it as His duty to care for us. I think of what prompts me to provide for my children: unconditional, sacrificial love that knows no limits. It's then that I have to stop and learn a brand new lesson - God doesn't just meet my needs because He created me and has to provide for me. He meets my needs because of His unconditional, sacrificial, limitless love for me. See what I mean? I get to see it as a child and as a parent. Obviously, my love for my children pales in comparison to my Creator's love for me, but it does help me understand it. 

To know that His hand is on my life, on my husband's life and on my children's lives is such a comfort to me. If He cares for the rest of His creation, how much more can I trust Him to care for us? I keep thinking of the sweet words of an old hymn: 

"Let not your heart be troubled,” His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.