God Speaks in Dreams, in Visions of the Night

A passage my mom used to read to me as a child:

For God speaks again and again,
     though people do not recognize it.
He speaks in dreams, in visions of the night,
     when deep sleep falls on people
     as they lie in their beds.
He whispers in their ears
     and terrifies them with warnings.
He makes them turn from doing wrong;
     he keeps them from pride.
- Job 33:14-17 (NLT)

I just awoke from a dream in which I was having a conversation with my dad when he was 21. We didn't talk about anything particularly weighty; matter of fact, I don't even know what we were talking about. I just had the chance to have a conversation with him before I'd introduced him to things like kids and gray hair.

It dawned on me while I listened that I was almost twice the age of this guy I was talking to, and that I actually was probably wiser than my dad as he was at this point. And then I realized that he would gain some of his wisdom over the upcoming years at the merciless hands of his son.

I saw that he didn't have any wrinkles, and that he still had the spark and the blissful naïveté of youth. Though I've certainly realized it before, I think that it was at that moment -- in my dream -- that I had the big epiphany that most adults probably eventually have: I made my parents' lives into something akin to hell (I somehow saw this in reverse as a teenager). I wanted to give my dad and mom their youth back and say, "Here, you can enjoy it this time around. I'll stay out of the way." But of course, I can't do that.

I wonder if I'm still doing that to anyone -- making their life far more difficult than it ought to be because I'm being self-centered or living my life without the heart of a servant.

"Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions." (1 John 3:18, NLT)

I'm sorry, Dad and Mom. And to the rest of you, I'll do better.

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Writing on the Doorposts

And now for something of a "parenting" post from a guy whose kids are still in the house and are still rather young. "He'll get what's coming to him," you may say. So be it. This post is also about learning if we believe what we say we believe.

"So commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these words of mine [the words of God]. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Teach them to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that as long as the sky remains above the earth, you and your children may flourish in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.

"Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him." - Moses, speaking for God in Deuteronomy 11:18-22 (NLT)

As a child and a teenager, I don't know if I ever really took my dad at his word when he told me that my rotten attitude about many things was actually a spiritual issue at heart. I didn't know just how much impact it had when he wrote out and placed Scriptures around the house (which resulted in memorization whether I wanted it to or not). Had he not continually taught my family the Word (which he had the free will not to do), my life would be different now. Different in what way, I cannot imagine, but at the very least, I feel very safe in guessing that I would not be on a pastoral staff anywhere. (On a side note, this is one fine example of how our free-will choices have far-reaching consequences.)

I don't use my life as an example of how to raise your kids. Instead, I point to the Scripture above. Notice that adherence to that Scripture does not allow us to relegate the teaching of the Word of God to a devotional time with our children in the evenings (times which I'll bet are far less frequent than we'd care to admit).

While, "Because I said so," may sometimes seem like a valid answer to our kids, wouldn't it be prudent to explain to kids that in the Word of God, disobedience to parents is a character trait of those who are sinful, wicked, and foolish? It is grouped with a number of other sins in attitudes and actions which might seem to us to be far more vile. (Romans 1:18, 28-32, 2 Timothy 3:1-5)

In a nutshell, we don't ever have down-time from our Christianity. It is an integral part of who we are. I have come to believe that a great way of measuring the genuineness of our commitment to following Christ is to take an honest look at how (or even if) we pass that commitment along to our children.

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