Whenever I come across fuzzy pink slippers tucked away on a bookshelf or a Calico Critter stowed in a night table drawer, I think, “Lone Ranger.” She puts special things in out-of-the-way places to either protect them from M&M or to save them for moments she can tip away to play on her own. Yet, I know when I need time to write, I can trust the Lone Ranger to whip out that same Calico Critter or a Littlest Pet to distract her little brother—as she’s doing at this very moment. You won’t often find her curled up with a book because she’s busy sight reading new piano music or singing in that lovely sky-high voice of hers. She’ll obediently do the dishes or keep her room ship shape, but she’ll give you the stinky face about vacuuming.
Yes, I can read my family like all those books Maven loves. And I know them like the back of my hand that M&M uses to swing up the stairs. When I see them it’s like looking in a mirror Songbird uses to apply her new Mary Kay eyeliner. Just how is it that I love them? I can count the ways because I put the time in, building the relationship that began the moment I merely suspected they were growing in my tummy.
And to think…God knows us even more intimately and loves us even more deeply.
When it’s Brown Sugar’s reading time I pull her into my lap so I can hear that precious little “s” she adds to all her words (think Mara Wilson from Mrs. Doubtfire). When I need to make sure M&M stops running through the kitchen I bend down to his level and I look him in the eye. In those same ways, I should draw near to God. And He promised He will draw near to me (James 4:8). When I get close to Him…
I get to know His character. I have a special “I see a spider” voice. Hubby recognizes the tone and comes running before I go full throttle. That’s because he’s invested twenty-one years in me, swatting, stomping, and shooing away all my six- and eight-legged tormentors (and the two-legged ones as well). So it is with God, my “refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Psalm 46:1) Through our time spent together in study and prayer (and yes, “Help me, Lord!” counts) He reveals His character to me, layer by layer. I came to know Him by His grace, but as each day passes God reveals His great mercy, faithfulness, steadfastness, omniscience and omnipresence, love, and creativity. Little by little I see how all things come from Him, and before I can utter a word, He shows up; the battle is won before I begin the fight. Just as I’ve gotten to know Hubby by living with him, I’ve come to know Christ because He’s living in me.
I learn to trust in His name. We prayed over the names of our little people. Each has a biblical, historical, or familial significance. So when I called Think Tank “Dexter,” ugh…I mean, who calls a baby by the puppy’s name? Four children and three dogs later, Hubby and I continue mixing up names, faces, and breeds, and forgetting ages, birthdates, and grades. But I can’t confuse God’s name with any other, for there is none other, for His name is even more meaningful. After all, it carries power and authority: I Am parts the waters; the Lord is my strong tower; Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life; Alpha and Omega is my beginning and my end; and the King of Kings yet reigns. He is the gentle Lamb who comes at my faintest call, unlike my little people who ignore me yelling at the top of my lungs, and as my Abba Father, He holds me close in His arms when I run to Him.
He calls me His own. Yes, we mix up a name or two from time to time, but as my mama says, “Girl, you know who I’m talking to.” Mama has always known who I am, no matter what she calls me—then, when I lived in her house, and now, when I’m tending my own. And rightly so. Who else broke every ball on her Christmas tree? Who crouched on the wire bottom of the grocery cart to ride and read? Who broke their hearts at her college graduation by getting engaged? Who sets her seven little people loose on their house? More than she knows me, however, God knows me. Who else knows I’m worrying about the very thing I’ve prayed for? Who answers a prayer I haven’t even voiced? Who keeps me company when I’m writing at 3 a.m.? He can always pick me out of a crowd because He “formed my inward parts…[His] eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.” (Psalm 139:13, 16) I can discern the cries of my little people on a crowded playground, but I can trust God to anticipate my need because He’s tried me and knows my every anxiety. (Psalm 139:23)
I will learn to live out His Word. Think Tank has a gift for language. He can roll his “Rs” like nobody’s business. He picks up vocabulary and phrases quickly. Yet, I know if I plopped him all by his lonesome in Spain he’d be crying “¡Ayúdame!” faster than Dora and Boots. Think Tank simply hasn’t spent enough time studying the language to communicate it effectively. He needs to practice it daily and learn even more. That’s true for our life in the Word. We have to immerse ourselves in Him, growing and maturing in Him so we can apply His Word to our own lives, speaking it and believing it. As His children, we have to know what it is we believe and then we can live it and share it with others.
Remember the former things of old, For I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done,…”
Our relationship with God is what we try to mirror with our little people, even if we come up short. We do what we feel is best for them based on what we know about their personalities, habits, and needs. Yet, our little people still surprise us and let us down—the A-student blows off a test for a party or they all blame that mystery child who lives in our house when my favorite coffee mug gets broken. I disappoint or hurt them even with the best intentions.
But with God, it’s not about what He does or what I don’t do. It’s all about who He is. I can never match God in that ocean-deep, cup-overflowing type of love, nor can I fully understand His love, thoughts, and plans. Knowing Him is more than committing to read the Bible every day or praying first thing each morning. It means covering my eyes with one hand and putting the other hand in His, trusting Him to lead, protect, and do what’s best for me. I tried doing that with my family, but experience tells me I’d better peek through my fingers. But I don’t have to cheat with God. I can trust that with Him guiding me I won’t step on a forgotten Calico Critter or trip over a slipper that never made it to the bookshelf.
