Children are educated by what the grown-up is and not by his talk.
~Carl Jung
I am just going to say it.
I have robbed my kids blind for years. And really they never even knew it.
Before you turn me into the FEDs to be prosecuted because you presume I have been taking their cash, it has been more my lack of giving rather than taking.
I come from a classic Pentecostal, Bible-believing, Jesus heals background. (To clarify: I do listen to secular music and I have not yet boycotted Disney). My childhood faith framework was that of one that God is “able”. God is able to save. God is able to heal. God is able to provide. God is able to deliver. God is able to give his Spirit. God is able to do the impossible.
And I grew up experiencing that divine ability. I saw God do the miraculous. I saw God do ridiculous things that left me with zero doubt in who God was and what he was able to do.
And for most of my adult life the childhood years of my kids have seen their dad live, work and volunteer in the house of God. And while we have always attended church. What they have not never really seen is that move of God I grew up with.
Jesus said this ” no one lights a lamp and places a bowl over it”. But in so many ways that is exactly what I have done. Went to my closet to seek the big things of God and kept the light in there. Keeping my kids in the dark and leaving the miraculous still a mystery to them.
I have robbed them of experiencing the miraculous.
I have robbed them of having their faith made firm by an amazing move of God.
I have robbed them of seeing the BIGNESS of a God in order that they can believe for themselves in a God who is “able”.
So yes, I am guilty.
I am guilty of not being the priest I need to be.
I am guilty of not allowing them to fully see the mighty move of God that lies just on the edge of the prayers I pray.
I am guilty of shading the shine of the Son from the eyes of my kids.
And I had to change that. So this Sunday I did.
I went to my pantry got the extra large bottle of extra virgin olive oil and prayed over my kids. I get that it’s old school and maybe to some a little unorthodox. But scripture teaches us some critical lessons about blessings.
Jacob was willing to deceived and trick his father Isaac to steal Esau’s. Jacob wrestled all night with the angel of the Lord just to receive the blessing. Jacob later blesses the Ephraim instead of the older child Manasseh. The blessing the father was coveted and sought after.
Now I have been “blessed out” many times. I told you I have a Holy Spirit filled mama, but this is not that. This was me putting my hand on their hand and passing the passion infused in me by a loving Father onto them. This is not a right of passage or ritual duty. This is the heart of a father loving and longingly desiring his three kids to fully discover the Father and all he has for their lives.
Stop robbing your kids of their blessing. Yes it was awkward. No they didn’t understand. Yet I firmly believe that God has a way of transferring love and passion and callings through a father’s hand. I believe that in that moment my kids destiny was determined and set into motion. They may not know it today, but one day they may look back and see that moment as a revelation that God is able.
So quit robbing them. Bless them.
