God First

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My children and I were traveling down the interstate and I, as usual, was trying to make conversation to disturb the time they might otherwise spend mindlessly on their phones.  Something made me think about National History Day, so I asked my 12 year-old if he had heard anything about it at school.  “Yes, mom. I already have a project, I already have my partners, and we don’t need any help.”  

Taken aback, I responded, “Oh, you do?  Well, what’s your topic? Who are your partners?” 

He said the theme is Breaking Barriers and his topic is Brown vs. the Board of Education.  

Excited, I started telling him that his grandparents graduated in the last segregated class from the respective Lincoln High Schools in their cities.  I told him I would be thinking of someone for him to interview who experienced desegregation first-hand. I talked about Pat Conroy’s book, The Water is Wide, that he should read it for some perspective.  

He looked blankly at me and said, “This is why I don’t tell you.  You get all of these ideas, and you want me to do too much. I have Google and that’s fine.”

My older son has a friend who asked him if they could trade mothers.  His friend has heard me on multiple occasions talking to my son about his grades, studying, prioritizing, etc., to which my son responds with annoyance.  His friend says his mom never says anything about grades or school. He says he would do better if he thought she cared. I tell him that she does care, but that she is working hard to provide for him - that she trusts him to do his work at school. 

I am happy that my children desire to be independent, but unhappy that they neglect me as a resource.  To put this into perspective, how often do we say, “Put God First,” then neglect to do so? I have mentioned multiple times that I am a planner.  I get an idea and start making plans.  It’s taken me some time to realize that my plans may not be His plans.  I can work to execute my plan, but if it’s not His plan, my work will be harder, more stressful, and it may never actually materialize.  

Psalm 121:2 says, “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.”  How easy is it for us to neglect our Creator, to neglect the One who knitted us in our mother’s womb, the One who is from beginning until the end?  How often do we neglect our Help, yet look to social media, the news, and Google? As humans, we have big brains that have the ability to reason and make decisions - we all have this and development starts young.  As we amass years of experience we begin to reason and make decisions, not just for ourselves, but others. In doing so, it must be a conscious decision to seek the Lord in everything we do. As John 3:30 tells us, “He must increase, but I must decrease.”  Like Colossians 3:17 states, "And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”  This is a hard pattern to adopt - God first, ourselves second.  If we “commit [our] work to the Lord, [our] plans will be established.” (Proverbs 16:3)  

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Thank you for reading!
Have a blessed week!
​Kim