everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Monday, August 29, 2005
Falling down
Yesterday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for church, my daughter had gone upstairs to get her Bible from her bedroom. I'm there with my son and we walk to the bottom of the stairs to see if she's coming down yet, since we're about ready to walk out the door. She's about halfway down, and suddenly, her foot gets caught on her dress, and she falls to her knees. I froze a split second, and it looked as if she'd caught herself. She was closer to the wall without the railing, so she's on her knees with her hand on the wall, trying to hold herself up. But it wasn't enough. She falls forward and then onto her side, and rolls (or bounces) down about 5 or 6 steps before she stops, just a couple of steps from the bottom step and the "baby gate".
My 17-month-old son, frightened by the whole scene, begins screaming. My daughter is crying as well, as I'm opening the gate and helping her up. She was fine other than being a little scared and having a small carpet burn on her leg. But it was still frightening, for all of us. It's one of those moments where you see something bad about to happen but you don't have time to stop it. It all happened in about 2, maybe 3, seconds, but all sorts of thoughts were going through my mind during that short time. Later, as we were talking about it, perhaps over lunch, she made the statement that "It's a good thing daddy was there to save me."
Truth is, I didn't do much. I couldn't do much; I was too far away. I could only get there in time to help her up. I would've done anything to keep her from falling, but I can't carry her myself every time she needs to go up or down the stairs. She has to do it on her own, and there's always the chance that she'll fall.
The whole incident reminded me that God made man knowing that there was the chance we would fall. He gave us choice, and we could choose to do evil. We could choose to fall. And we did. We fell big. The serpent deceived the woman in the garden, and the relationship between God and man was forever broken. In the words of the old television commercial, we have fallen and we can't get up.
Fortunately, God didn't give up on us. When we fell, He didn't move on to something else. He loved us. He loved us more than we are able to love. He loved us enough to make a way to restore that relationship. He sent a Savior to us, his only Son, and made a way for us to have that relationship with Him once again. He is there to help us up. Like my daughter said, it's a good thing Daddy was there to save us.
And sometimes I think I couldn't do that. Sometimes I think of it in terms of other people - people I don't know, who, if I did something so amazing for them, that they'd not be eternally grateful, and would in fact ignore me. I'd say, "Well, that's it for them" and be done with it.
But I have a lot better understanding of how God feels about us when I look to my own children. How could I ever give up on them?? I love them too much. I'd do anything within my power to keep my relationship with them. When I saw the look of fear on my daughter's face as she was falling down the stairs, I did the only thing I could do at that point. I went to her and held her in my arms, telling her it was okay, that I was there with her. When she makes a mistake, does something she shouldn't, or ignores her responsibilities, I always try to make sure she understands how much I still love her, that my love for her is just as great as it was before. Falling down will not change that. And when we fall, as we did in the garden and continue to today, God comes to us as well, sometimes catching us, sometimes allowing us to fall and learn our lessons, but always letting us know that He is there, that He loves us as much as ever, and that He will save us.
My 17-month-old son, frightened by the whole scene, begins screaming. My daughter is crying as well, as I'm opening the gate and helping her up. She was fine other than being a little scared and having a small carpet burn on her leg. But it was still frightening, for all of us. It's one of those moments where you see something bad about to happen but you don't have time to stop it. It all happened in about 2, maybe 3, seconds, but all sorts of thoughts were going through my mind during that short time. Later, as we were talking about it, perhaps over lunch, she made the statement that "It's a good thing daddy was there to save me."
Truth is, I didn't do much. I couldn't do much; I was too far away. I could only get there in time to help her up. I would've done anything to keep her from falling, but I can't carry her myself every time she needs to go up or down the stairs. She has to do it on her own, and there's always the chance that she'll fall.
The whole incident reminded me that God made man knowing that there was the chance we would fall. He gave us choice, and we could choose to do evil. We could choose to fall. And we did. We fell big. The serpent deceived the woman in the garden, and the relationship between God and man was forever broken. In the words of the old television commercial, we have fallen and we can't get up.
Fortunately, God didn't give up on us. When we fell, He didn't move on to something else. He loved us. He loved us more than we are able to love. He loved us enough to make a way to restore that relationship. He sent a Savior to us, his only Son, and made a way for us to have that relationship with Him once again. He is there to help us up. Like my daughter said, it's a good thing Daddy was there to save us.
And sometimes I think I couldn't do that. Sometimes I think of it in terms of other people - people I don't know, who, if I did something so amazing for them, that they'd not be eternally grateful, and would in fact ignore me. I'd say, "Well, that's it for them" and be done with it.
But I have a lot better understanding of how God feels about us when I look to my own children. How could I ever give up on them?? I love them too much. I'd do anything within my power to keep my relationship with them. When I saw the look of fear on my daughter's face as she was falling down the stairs, I did the only thing I could do at that point. I went to her and held her in my arms, telling her it was okay, that I was there with her. When she makes a mistake, does something she shouldn't, or ignores her responsibilities, I always try to make sure she understands how much I still love her, that my love for her is just as great as it was before. Falling down will not change that. And when we fall, as we did in the garden and continue to today, God comes to us as well, sometimes catching us, sometimes allowing us to fall and learn our lessons, but always letting us know that He is there, that He loves us as much as ever, and that He will save us.
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