The incarnation

There is much to be said about incarnational ministry. As we make our way through the advent season, we are anticipating the very incarnation of God. It was his idea! "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." (John 1:14) He did this so that he could rescue us from ourselves, with his very self. Is what we do every day as parents, not a shadow of this? I know for a fact that our children want us to come down and "dwell" with them. For Andrew, there is no better way for me to gain his attentive ear than for me to get down and be in his world. There is just something about getting down on my knees and humbling myself, playing with cars and trains down on the hard, dirty floor. Even if I just spend 10 minutes "down there," his demeanor often changes for the rest of the day. And I'll be honest, there are many times a day that there are many other things up in my world that I would rather be engaged in. There's laundry, lunch, dinner, email, phone conversations with friends and family, just sitting and taking a rest, the list goes on....Then I stop and take a good think...asking myself what eternal consequence there is in having all my laundry done and dinner on the table at 6:30...perhaps some would disagree, but I would have to say that in comparison to the invaluable life of a child there is none.
But why is it so HARD?? Why do I always hear myself saying, "not right now, Andrew," or "let me just finish this and I'll be right there Andrew,"...and many of the times I never quite make it. I believe it is because we are just like them when they are throwing a tantrum because they want something "NOW!" We want what we want and we want it right then...whether it be getting the carrot cut for the dinner soup, or unloading dishes, or finishing an email, or reading an article, or cleaning the table, or even finishing making the cookies that they asked you for earlier in the day! (and these are often good things in and of themselves). But just like them, I want my agenda served and I seek my own comfort. Frankly, getting down and playing cars is not my idea of comfort and it certainly delays the accomplishment of my tasks.
I am overcome when I ponder the depths of my sinfulness and the (more) depths of God's grace. What grace! He certainly did not leave us unto ourselves "down here" to play with our toys and deal with our sin all by ourselves. No! He wrapped Himself up in human flesh and came down, not just for ten minutes to give us a little face time. He came to dwell with us, to bear our burdens, to help us to see our sins, to help us understand true love and to die for us so that we may be with Him forever. He did not then go back to his pile of laundry and proceed to fold it. No! He gave us his Holy Spirit to dwell within us and to be with us forever. He wanted to make known the extent of his love to the people that He created so badly that he came! We are spiritual, emotional, and physical people...and all three of these aspects of who we are were identified with by God in his incarnation. So too, must we be with our children. They need more from us than food, clothes, hugs, kisses, encouragement, and correction. Oh they do need these things, but they also need us to "be" with them...often. To come and dwell with them, and their cars, and their dolls. This is how they really know that we love them, when in humility, we count others more significant than ourselves. Not looking only to our own interests, but also to the interests of others. Having this mind among us, which is ours in Christ Jesus, who though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:3b-8) Many of us understand God as our Heavenly Father (and the Bible speaks of him as such), and if the incarnation and the cross was the pinnacle of his parenting, should we as earthly parents not take this wisdom and run with it to our children?