I absolutely love love love my three children. Each one of them is unique, and yet there is also in each one something distinctly Pettus.
My children are so much of what makes my life blessed. One of the crucial components they impart to me is a better understanding of God, my Heavenly Father, and what He's attempting to do in my life.
Matthew 7:9 “Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone?"
My children never hesitate to ask me for what they need. Right now my 18 month old son, Asher, is patting me on the back. Just a second ago he pulled my arm away from my computer (he's strong) and handed me his Toy Story wind up toy and insisted that I wind it up. I did. He smiled and is now patting me. Well, he just dropped it on the cat and is running away. But the point is he didn't hesitate to ask. He knows that as His father, I will help him when he asks.
This is how I can relate to God. I know I can go to Him and seek His help and will receive it every time. He may so "no" or "not yet", but even then it is for His good purpose.
Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your forefathers and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations, as it is today.
What Asher and my other two children, Mackenzie and Jackson, have is a quiet confidence. This confidence comes from the fact that they never asked me to love them and to make them my own. They know instinctively that I chose them to be my children and I have proven my love for them from the first second they ever saw me. They didn't ask to be Pettus kids. My wife and I decided we wanted them and brought them into the world.
We didn't choose them because of their moral superiority or because of what they would accomplish in our name. We chose to love them and have them because of our desire to have them and love them.
This is what God has done for me. He chose me, as He did the children of Israel. There was nothing in me or Israel that made us worth choosing. God in His grace and sovereignty just chose to have me as His own and love me. This gives me confidence. I can approach God at any time, as my Father, and I can live my life knowing that no matter what God loves me and has made me His own.
Hebrews 12:5-6 And you have forgotten that word of encouragement that addresses you as sons: “My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline, and do not lose heart when he rebukes you, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, and he punishes everyone he accepts as a son.” We are about to begin to discipline Asher. He is now coming to the age when he understands right from wrong and is willingly disobeying us. He will be given limitations like time out and in time a spanking on the hand or bottom. We disciplined his siblings the same way. What has been amazing to us is how much we had to discipline them from ages two to four and now so sparingly. They have learned that life is better when they obey.
God, my Father, has disciplined me. He still is disciplining me. I am not as fast a learner as my children, but I have figured out that life is better when I obey Him. He disciplines me because He loves me. I want my kids to be healthy discerning adults and so I train them to do what is right. When they choose to do wrong, I discipline them.
God does the same thing with me. The big difference is that I, as a father, make mistakes sometimes. God never does.
For these reasons and so many more that I have no space to list here I appreciate my kids and love my God.
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