I love the hymn I am parodying with this title (is that sacreligious…a parody of a hymn?..my Dad is broken-hearted, I’m sure!). The truth is that while it’s “sweet” as the hymn really says, well…it’s equally hard. Thankfully, I have about 25 years of history under my belt of trusting Jesus…but lately, I’ve been reminded again of how hard it is.
Enter Jack.
You see, Jack is buckling…you know how the pavement in America just full on “buckles” when it gets so hot in the summer? Well, the heat is on in my son’s world. Apparently, he’s a “popular” kid at school (don’t get me started on that whole thing), but what that translates to my son’s little heart is that he has trained and served his heart a steady diet of “how people perceive me is how I feel about myself” and sadly – God. So…if everyone’s nice to him, he maintains his studliness on the soccer field at every recess opportunity, and there’s at least one mention of a girl liking him…his heart remains steadfast and God’s face is clearly shining on him.
If, after said example day, he comes home to a Mom that reviews his Math paper that we whizzed through (and thus bombed), and then gets caught in a string of recent half-truths (is it progress to go from full on blatant lies to half-truths?…I think not)…then suddenly, “he’s a terrible kid who has parents that only talk about bad things and God just isn’t Mr. Nice Guy anymore.
My son has an extreme penchant for literal…this wrecks a lot of havoc on his ability to trust the Lord. We had a great conversation the other night as we muddled through his weak “trust-in-God-muscle” as compared to his, “I’m an awesome soccer player-muscle” and “I’m-the-hottest-4th-grader-muscle (what is that all about, really?,4th grade???) As we talked about trusting Jesus for his worth, acceptance, love and security, my son literally squirmed and flopped for 15 minutes on my bed – showing physical resistance to this idea of trusting God for such things.
God is calling Jack to Himself – it’s ugly and simultaneously the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. God calls me to Himself every day – maybe it looks a little better on the outside and maybe the distance between “hard to trust” and “sweet to trust” in Jesus is shorter, but the beauty of God redeeming me remains the greatest, most mysterious, most spectacular thing I’ve ever known. Keep praying for Jack, dear friends..he’s on the divine hot seat!
Oh for grace, to trust You more!
We love you all – Jen