So Many Moments
Chrys and I write and talk a lot about our desire to leave strong legacies of faith in our families. I want to encourage you today with this truth: It is easy to live pointing others to Jesus, as long as we’re living in pursuit of Him ourselves. When we live with Jesus, our lives witness to Jesus, and life-impacting moments with eternal potential are there for the taking. Let me tell you a story for illustration.
My youngest grandson was sitting with me on the back porch. I was working and Weston was drawing while I looked for the first place to put a bow on my writing so I could give him my full attention. It wasn’t a preplanned Weston day. The men had been rained out of the fields, and Weston had showed up with his daddy who was currently inside going over some farm numbers with his dad. I admire the way Phil (husband) and Phillip (son) work together, but that’s another post for another day.
“Look, Keggie!” Weston said. Naturally, when I looked up, I was charmed first by the joy in his big blue eyes and the sprinkle of freckles across his nose, but I knew I was supposed to be looking at his drawing, so I did. The flowers in his picture seemed pretty tall compared to everything around them so I took a wild guess.
“Sunflowers?”
Weston nodded proudly. He was pleased with both of us, himself for drawing them and me for recognizing them. Win/win.
The conversation that followed wasn’t planned either, but I saw an opportunity in it to reiterate truth and I seized it. Weston was talking about how tall the sunflowers were in the patch behind his house. I’ve seen them, too, so I was equally impressed.
“We don’t even plant them anymore,” Weston announced. “The seeds just fall out on the ground, and we get more sunflowers the next year!”
I agreed with Weston that the ongoing sunflower harvest was cool, and then I took a moment to chat with Weston about how planting our love for Jesus in the lives of other people was a lot like sunflower seeds. When we live loving Jesus and taking in His Word, those very words build up in us and fall out around us. Sometimes with us not even realizing it! It was a short age-appropriate talk, but Weston smiled, and I could tell he was thinking about what I said even as he went back to his drawing.
I don’t know about you, Grandma, but it helps me to remind myself that I can’t draw other people to Jesus, not the world around me, not our podcasts listeners or our website readers. You can’t draw people either. As much as we want to, we can’t even choose Jesus for the grands that we adore. It’s God’s role to draw them, and their decision to choose Him back, or not. Jesus said, “No man can come until me unless the Father draws Him.” John 6:44
What you and I can do is live drinking at the Well until Jesus splashes out of us like water sloshing from a brimming glass. Drinking is easy. If we’ll do our part, we’ll get to watch God do His in the lives of those we love!
Hugs,
Shellie
