Quieting to Hear God's Voice
My father-in-law grew up on a ranch north of Austin, Texas. As a boy he was given free reign to walk the fields and hillsides of his family's property, hunting for birds and any other adventure a boy could come up with.
One day he set out into the range, watching the trees and skies for birds. As he walked he neglected to keep his bearings. Hours into his adventure, he looked around, realizing that he didn't recognize his surroundings. He called out for his father, his mother, his brothers, but there was no answer. He called louder, and his cries of fear grew louder still. But he was good and lost.
He sat down on a rock and the tears flowed for a while until he finally quieted himself down. And in the distance he heard something familiar; it was the windmill for the watering trough. It was faint, but he was able to tell the general direction. Following the faint sound, he found his way to the windmill, and from the windmill, his way home.
Have you ever found yourself lost in life, without your bearings? Perhaps you've wondered so far from the path of wisdom that you don't even realize just how lost you are. But once you do, fear and panic overtake you. In the chaos, the noise of your circumstances can overwhelm you and drown out the one sound you actually need to hear ... that "still small voice" of God.
Then the LORD said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the LORD. Behold, the LORD is about to pass by.” And a great and mighty wind tore into the mountains and shattered the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake there was a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire came a still, small voice. When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave" (I Kings 19:11-13, BSB).
We have to learn to quiet ourselves enough to hear the voice of God leading us back to Himself.
"But I have calmed and quieted my soul, like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child is my soul within me" (Psalm 131:2, ESV).
“Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10, ESV).
Fearless Fatherhood
Sometimes we can fear showing even very simple, clear acts of love. Many fathers rarely tell their children that they love them. The National Center for Fathering reports, from the informal surveying of fathers that only about 3-4% of fathers tell their children that they love them on a consistent basis. It’s not that they don’t love their children, they do, and they often desperately want to tell their children that they love them. But they don’t because they’re afraid of how their children might respond.
According to the Center:
Our words—or sometimes our lack of words—can either bless or discourage our children for their entire lives. And we’ve heard all the excuses: 'They know how much I love them.' 'I don’t want my son to get a big head.' 'It just isn’t what we do in our family.' But those are just excuses. If we know how much it benefits our children, there’s really no reason we shouldn’t say it.
Fear often causes us to shrink back from doing what we know we "ought" to do, causing us to lean into excuses.
But the Center assures us:
... [T]hose three words, spoken with sincerity and backed up by behavior, can demonstrate support, encouragement, tenderness, and caring as much as anything else we do as fathers.
Scripture is replete with our Heavenly Father's proclamation of love for us.
See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him (1 John 3:1, NIV).
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life (John 3:16, NIV).
We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19, NIV).
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord (Roman 8:37-39, ESV).
In shrinking back or retreating in fear from expressing that love to others, especially our own children, we are retreating from our obligation — and even privilege — to love others just as God has loved us!
And that’s really where genuine change can occur in our lives. Because as we begin to rest in God’s love for us, we find that all of our fears begin to fade away. It says in Psalm 34: "I sought the Lord, and he answered me and rescued me from all my fears."
In fact, "There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love" (1 John 4:18, NIV).
Don't rob your child of knowing the your love for them. Follow the Lord's example to proclaim that love boldly, loudly, and often!
Just Drop the Blanket
Each Christmas for the past nearly six decades, Americans have gathered around the TV to watch one of the most iconic and beloved cartoon animations of all time, A Charlie Brown Christmas. And within this iconic show, is one of the most iconic scenes ever scripted -- Linus' monologue about the true meaning of Christmas.
Mocked, humiliated, and confused, Charlie Brown cries out, "Doesn't anybody know what Christmas is all about?!"
Linus gently replies, "I know what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown." And with that He takes center stage to proclaim the Good News of the Gospel as recorded in Luke Chapter Two:
8 And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
9 And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
"That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown."
But have you ever noticed what happens right in the middle of that monologue? Linus drops his blanket!
Jason Soroski, writing for The Gospel Coalition, has this to say ...
Linus is most associated with his ever-present security blanket. Throughout the story of Peanuts, Lucy, Snoopy, Sally and others all work to no avail to separate Linus from his blanket. And even though his security blanket remains a major source of ridicule for the otherwise mature and thoughtful Linus, he simply refuses to give it up.
Until this moment. When he simply drops it.
In that climactic scene when Linus shares what “Christmas is all about,” he drops his security blanket, and I am now convinced that this is intentional. Most telling is the specific moment he drops it: when he utters the words “fear not” (at :44 seconds).
Soroski continues ...
... it’s pretty clear what Charles Schulz was saying through this, and it’s so simple it’s brilliant.
The birth of Jesus separates us from our fears.
The birth of Jesus frees us from the habits we are unable (or unwilling) to break ourselves.
The birth of Jesus allows us to simply drop the false security we have been grasping so tightly, and learn to trust and cling to him instead. ...
... in the midst of fear and insecurity, this simple cartoon image from 1965 continues to live on as an inspiration for us to seek true peace and true security in the one place it has always been and can always still be found.
And where is that? In Christ alone!
Won't you join Linus? Lean into the manger. Behold the gift of the Savior. And drop the blanket!