Mama, Watch!

“Mama, watch!” is a phrase that I hear more and more as the days go by and my oldest son’s vocabulary continues to grow. He gets so excited about things that he learns and he wants me to watch him. From jumping, to throwing a ball, to taking a bite of food — he wants me to watch all the time. It doesn’t matter if I’m in the middle of doing something or talking with someone, he wants my attention — now! He is looking for me to pay attention to him and acknowledge whatever it is that he’s attempting. He doesn’t always accomplish his goal and will let me know how he feels about whatever he just did. For example, if he’s shooting a basketball and misses the hoop, he says “Oh man!” He’ll then tell me if he’s too far away, too close, needs to try again, etc. This goes for any of the actions he asks me to watch — and he always checks to see if my eyes are in fact watching. As I was thinking about how often he says that each day, it made me start to think about my relationship with my Heavenly Father.

My son is so quick to ask me to watch what he’s doing. He doesn’t care if he messes up or if he has to try multiple times to get it right. Sometimes he gets frustrated and looks to me for help and sometimes he gives up altogether. He can usually figure out what the problem is, but sometimes he needs me to tell him what it is and then he’s able to work on correcting it. That’s how my relationship with God should be. Even though He can see me all the time, I should still be asking Him to watch. I don’t need to ask Him to watch for His benefit, but for mine. Just like my son is looking for me to encourage him, help him, or correct him — that’s what I should be looking to God for too.

How would I live my life differently if I regularly thought about the fact that God is watching me? Not that I need to “perform” for Him, but rather that I need to look up from what I’m doing and ask Him if I’m doing it well, if I need to improve/grow in it, or if I need to move on. He is such a loving Father and He wants to watch us. He wants to be the One that we look to for help, encouragement, correction, and love. Even when we mess up, He wants us to look to Him for help — just like my son looks to me. When we do something well, He wants to encourage us — just like I want to encourage my son. When we get frustrated, He wants to be the one to help us through it — just like I want to help my son. Becoming a parent has taught me so much about how God loves me. I’ve known that He loves me for as long as I can remember, but there is a depth to it that I personally didn’t understand until I had a child.

The desire that I have for the relationships I have with my sons are ones filled with love, respect, forgiveness, grace, encouragement, joy, laughter, comfort, communication, and so on. I want it to be healthy and honoring to God. I want there to always be that “Mama, watch” type of relationship. One where they feel safe to let me see them succeed, make mistakes, move on, seek help, etc. Not because I think that I will always be needed in the same way that I am now, but because I want to be invited into their lives even as they grow up and become adults.

I don’t remember who I heard say it, but someone recently said that we don’t want our children to make mistakes and think, “Oh no, I messed up, I hope my dad doesn’t find out,” but rather, “Oh no, I messed up, I better call my dad, he’ll know how to help me.” They weren’t only speaking of their children’s relationship with their dad, but also of believers relationship with God. You see, as a new believer I think it can sometimes be easier to make mistakes before God because we think “I’m still learning, He understands,” but as we grow and learn more, we begin to think “I should know better” and shame starts to creep in. The reality is that we’re always learning and God is always wanting us to turn to Him — even when we make a mistake because He loves us and always knows how to help us.

Romans 5:6-8 says, “For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die—but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” He’s already seen us at our absolute worst and He still chose to love us more than we will ever fully comprehend in our finite minds. He is omniscient and is not surprised by any of our mistakes. He is the perfect Father and will never fail us. He will never turn us away when we turn to Him for help. He will care for us in ways that only He can and encourage us when we need to be encouraged. I will fail my sons — I already have — there is no way around that because I’m human, but God is rich in mercy and He will never fail me, my sons, or any of you. His love is perfect and He isn’t stingy with it. He is love and He endures forever.

So, my goal for myself is to start being more intentional with asking God to “watch” me as I go throughout my day. I want my relationship with Him to continue to grow and I want to be able to recognize His voice all day long. I want to recognize His encouragement, heed His correction, ask Him for help, ask for forgiveness, and rest in His love.

Do you seek God for help when you make a mistake or do you try to hide it from Him? What is something/someone in your life that has helped you better understand the love God has for you?

Song(s) of the Week: This week I chose “Help is on the Way (Maybe Midnight)” and “I just need U” by TobyMac. Enjoy!