Watching God Work Through Unexpected Windows

Did you ever catch a young child pretending to be an adult? It can be a wonderfully joyful experience watching your little girl play a mommy, changing her dolls diaper, or your young son pretending to come home from work calling out, “Honey I’m home.” Our children act out scenes from our lives with comedic simplicity and can play out our weaknesses with convicting clarity. Isn’t it great when God opens an unexpected window into our children through how they play?

The other day I came home from work, through the garage door into the kitchen. Steam rose from a boiling pot, spreading the aroma of the evening meal. My wife stood in front of the stove, her back facing me with sounds of kitchen utensils clanking away. My older daughters were busy as well completing the organized chaos signaling dinner was well under way.

I offered a quick greeting and proceeded through the kitchen to the living room, my normal routine. There I would set down my heavy bag and throw down my coat before turning back to the kitchen to greet my family. But this day my four-year-old daughter Amelia caught my attention. I pause as I noticed her pretend she was reading a book, sitting at the kitchen table.

My heart filled with delight as I watched her holding my wife’s Bible and I heard her say,

“King of Mercy, King of Love, you are my king

Here is something true. He died on the cross,

and we should die on our cross. Right mom?”

“That’s right honey,” my wife answered as I moved on to the living room and set down my bag. I pulled out my lap top and typed out her exact phrase to preserve it. My heart filled with thankfulness realizing my daughter was simply play acting her mommy.

I thought how Lois and I have labored over our children, training them, disciplining them, often without the kind of visible success we want. I thought of our failures, our anger in correcting them and our selfish impatience. Then, I thought of God’s grace. I thought of God’s grace poured out on our children overcome our parenting ineffectiveness. And I was filled with gratefulness that God is at work in my kids, and that he is kind to us to let us see that work through these little windows of play acting that come at unexpected times.