Mathias is my youngest child. He was born with Prader Willi Syndrome and he was born with a love of God that I cannot explain. He starts kindergarten in the fall and they want him to write his name and tie his shoes by then. These things may or may not happen, but this 5 year old can explain and understands salvation. He plays "church" like most kids play with trucks. Yesterday, he was curious about Adam and Eve. For those who do not know about Prader Willi Syndrome, Mathias is always hungry because the appetite control center in his brain has a "hard wiring" issue. He does pretty well most days but sometimes he is overcome with hunger and obsesses on food. I told him that Adam and Eve lived in Eden and he misunderstood and thought they were "eating in" and immediately wondered what restaurant they went to way back then.
Last night, he wanted the Bible read to him at bedtime. He loves John the Baptist stories so I read out of Matthew. He was not going to sleep so we made it all the way to the Beatitudes, or Jesus' sermon on the Mount. He laid there and listened and I wondered what he thought of the "attitudes" that Christ taught.
Matthew 5 CEV
3 God blesses those people who depend only on him. They belong to the kingdom
of heaven!
4 God blesses those people
who grieve.
They will find comfort!
5 God blesses those people
who are humble.
The earth will belong
to them!
6 God blesses those people
who want to obey him
more than to eat or drink.
They will be given
what they want!
Wow. I have read this many times but reading it to Mathias put it all in perspective to me. In 3 short verses, Christ summarizes all my blog posts! These qualities are the very ones that I feel God has been laying on my heart for my own life.
Check out verse 6. THAT should be the reason we choose to fast. THAT reason alone because if we really seek to obey and follow Him, the rest of the stuff of life will get in line.
I tell Denise all the time I have no idea what God has in store for Mathias, but that little boy is a kid after His heart. My boy fights giants everyday. It is 6:15AM here and soon I will hear the pitter thump of his feet and know he will want his breakfast and his coffee and I will do my best to help the little guy put on his armor to fight the giant hunger. Hunger here, is not a game, but a nasty enemy that wants to crush my baby boy.
Mathias has a great heart and a great attitude. I feel like whooping up some giants.
What are some of the giants in your life that wreck your "attitude"?
I will say this, the biggest battles with the largest giants in my life have to do with the suffering I watch two of my three children experience. And sometimes that has thrown me completely off course, for I tend to forget, as David says in first Samuel, the battle is not mine alone, it is the Lord's. It is difficult for me to keep that foremost in my mind, and more importantly, in my heart, at times.
ReplyDeleteI used to fast a day a week. Then two as I felt led. In looking back I can say that during that time I was the closest I could have imagined in my walk with the Lord. And...life was very very good. I have not done that for several years.
Its funny that I read that story to Mathias last night. David was not afraid of that big ol Goliath even for a second. That blows my mind. We all talk about taking on Giants in our life and I know, for me, I am deathly afraid of the giants in my way.Thanks for sharing and caring
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