A Call to the Village to Abide
The following is an encouragement I wrote for our church’s children’s ministry newsletter. I hoped to appeal to a wide variety of experiences, and pray that proves true for you as you read it.
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Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. - John 15:4
The morning I went into labor with Winnie, I stayed home from church. It was a rainy Sunday, and I'm told the church gathering felt cozy. One of those days where time feels thick and slow, and it's easier to lay down responsibilities in favor of sitting at our Father’s feet. As I lay my wildly pregnant self on the couch to watch the rain, I was sent a recording of worship, and one of the songs was “Abide.”
To this day, “Abide” is the song we play when Winnie is in distress. It's remarkable how she can go from wailing to calm in the 1.2 seconds it takes her to register the opening piano.
As a result, “Abide” has permeated our lives. It's in our car rides, it's in the middle of the night with teething pain, it's in our home, it's in our Sunday gatherings. The invitation to abide has been sent our way on a consistent basis ever since Winnie was born through this song.
For my waking breath
For my daily bread
I depend on you
For the sun to rise
For my sleep at night
I depend on you
I won't include all the lyrics here, but I do want to pause and add a few of my own:
When sleep is elusive
When the children are feral
When there aren't enough hours in the day
When I haven't eaten a hot meal
When I haven't had an uninterrupted conversation
When the teenager’s emotions are tumultuous
When I'm weary of hoping it will finally be my turn to be a parent
When I do not know how to interact with kids
I depend on you
When the newborn snuggles
When the child tells me he loves me
When I hold his little hand
When my presence comforts
When my heart bursts with an aching joy
When I see the present fruit of Gospel seeds planted years ago
When the + sign finally appears
When my friend’s child gets excited to see me
I depend on you
I don't know exactly what your lyric is, but what I hope to illustrate is we depend on him in the good and the bad, in the joy and sorrow, in the gratitude and frustration. In it ALL, we depend on Him.
You're the way the truth and the life
You're the well that never runs dry
I'm the branch and You are the vine
Draw me close and teach me to abide
Be my strength my song in the night
Be my all my treasure my prize
I am Yours forever You're mine
Draw me close and teach me to abide
As we parent and are part of the village of the children the Lord has entrusted to our body, I pray we live this out in such a way that these little hearts cannot help but respond and abide. In parenthood, we have such a unique seat of being parented by our Heavenly Father while we parent our children. I regularly come back to how deeply grateful I am that my kids have a perfect Father to look to when I fall short, which is daily. If I've learned anything, it's that stewarding little lives is a pressure cooker in opportunities to model repentance and ask for forgiveness.
So, no matter where you find yourself as you read this, maybe it's been an A+ parenting day, maybe it feels like the trench just keeps getting deeper, maybe you are at work, maybe you are in the waiting or maybe you are unsure how to even engage with children that are part of the body but not your own, the invitation remains the same: abide. The prayer does too: Lord teach me to abide.
Big love for all of you!
Casey