Mother Daughter banquet devotional

May 11, 2010

Mother Daughter banquet devotional

Every year our church has a mother daughter banquet on the Saturday before Mother’s day. It’s such a sweet thing. We have dinner, dessert, and someone or a few someones give a devotional. This years theme was How sweet it is…and I was one of those someone’s this year. I thought and I prayed and all I could think about was how blessed I am to be a Mom.

And every year on the exact same day, is the kid’s state Youth competition. They compete in Bible categories, music; singing and playing instruments, drama, puppets, preaching, art, and sign language. Way too many categories to name! So we are always in a hurry! As soon as the awards are finished we rush back home. Did I mention that the competition always takes place a little over 2 and a half hours from our home church? This year there were 72 more entries than last year… It’s always a rush to get back on time…

We waited. Our boys still had one more thing they were involved in and we did not want to miss it. But I had promised to speak and if we didn’t leave soon, I wouldn’t make it. At least not without breaking lots of laws… What’s a mom to do? So I called my mom. For some reason I had saved my speech in my yahoo mail account. It’s not something I would normally do, but I did. I asked her to print out my devotion and read it for me. It wasn’t the same as ME being there and giving it, but I wasn’t letting down the lady who had asked me to speak either. AND most importantly I wasn’t letting my kids down…which is the whole point of it anyway.

So, I thought I would share my speech/devotional with you. It’s the first time I’ve ever done anything like this so be kind. 😉

Before I had children, I knew my mom loved me. After I had kids, I knew how much my mom loves me. I had a new appreciation for that love. But it wasn’t until I was saved, that I understood the depth of God’s love for me.

Psalm 127:3-5 3 Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. 4 As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth. 5 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them:

I’ve always wanted a big family. When I was little that number was 5. I think it’s because both my mom and my dad came from families of 5. When Stacy and I talked about how many children we wanted, it was always 6. Although we both said we would take a dozen if that was God’s plan. When I first found out that I was expecting Brennen, I prayed for a little boy. And God gave us Brennen. I think I prayed a little too hard because then he blessed us with another boy, Benjamin. And another boy, Brason. When we found out we were expecting another baby, we were so excited. I won’t say I knew she was a girl. I wasn’t. I hoped for pink dresses and frilly socks, but I knew God’s plan was perfect. I just really wanted Him to agree with my plan…and then there she was! The tech was 99% sure that she was a girl and still all I got out of the deal was a pair of little girl booties!

They are all blessings from God. They are my heritage. I know that God loves me, but He loves me so much that He gave me this heritage. Blessings like no other. They bring me Joy. I delight in being part of God’s plan for them. God designed me to be their mother and He designed them perfectly for me. He chose me for them. Wow! I’m always amazed when I look back at my life and I see how perfect God’s plan is. It’s usually not the one that I would have chosen for myself, but it’s infinitely better than anything I had in mind.

An archer in the army was happy to have his quiver full of arrows. It meant that he could fight for whatever he was there for. I think of raising my children to be arrows. Sharpened with God’s word, living life on a straight path that God has planned for them. And my quiver is full. Well, my hands are, that’s for sure.

And I’m happy about that. Joyful! And blessed. I love when one of the boys snuggles beside me on the couch, or 2, 3 or all 4 of them try to squeeze in beside me. I love when they find me watching them and they tilt their head, grin, and say…”What?” I love the “What if… questions that my oldest is so fond of, even if my answer most of the time is…I don’t know, let’s look that one up. I love that my middle son is halfway between boy and young man right now. And I see more of the young man he is becoming. I love the boyish energy and determination of my youngest son. And I love the determined, strong willed, joyful, sweet, sassy princess.

They bring me joy, but they don’t belong to me. Not really. Even though God has give them to me as family. We all belong to Him. We are His heritage. His Joy.

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