Previous Challenge Entry (Level 2 – Intermediate)
Topic: ARROW (11/17/22)
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TITLE: Master Marksman | Previous Challenge Entry
By Lorena Breneman
11/19/22 -
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“Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth.” (1)
I wasn't all that young when I gave birth to our second child one hot day in the middle of a thunderstorm nearly twenty years ago, although I was younger then than I am now. Just as she made her entrance, the hospital's power went off and the lights blinked out for a moment before the generators kicked in. In the midst of our new-parent euphoria, I remember making a mental note of the power surge that had accompanied her birth: What else would this child's life bring into the world? Something powerful enough to knock out more than just hospital lights?
We chose a name for her that means “consecrated to God” - an arrow for God's use, you might say. From the beginning she was wired to be wholehearted: She was funny, fierce, a daydreamer and an adventurer. As soon as she could walk steadily enough to carry an object in both little fists, she was rarely empty-handed. When she learned to walk on tiptoes, that became her preferred method of locomotion, and when she could jump, she added hopping to her repertoire of self-expression, bouncing up and down with equal vigor to communicate an abundance of joy or to vent her fury.
At three, she had an adequate grasp of the Bible stories we read to our girls to decide to follow God. I felt joy – and also relief, that her first step toward a safe channeling of her inner resources had been made. Not long afterward, I was reading the Bible to the children as they ate their breakfast. A few verses into the book of 1 John, my tiny daughter sat bolt upright in her high chair and proclaimed to us over her oatmeal: “That's true!! That is true!” with more conviction than I've seen, even in a pulpit. I began to suspect that shorting out the electricity was going to the be the least of her contributions to our lives.
Her insight for truth continued. We were reading somewhere else in the New Testament when she announced with satisfaction: “So if I want what God wants, then I can do whatever I want!” Again, the sermon in a nutshell.
Her elementary years were peppered with philosophical and theological questions like “Where were we, before we were born?” and “Why did God make Adam and Eve and put them in the Garden of Eden instead of just putting them right in Heaven?” I learned to begin praying for wisdom as soon as she opened her mouth, and frequently had to answer “I don't know. I'll pray about that, and you pray about that, and let's see what God teaches us.” Sometimes we arrived at satisfactory answers, but more often we were left puzzling over the mystery of God's ways, and trusting in the truth that his ways and thoughts are higher (and better) than ours.
Then came the hard years. Bullying. Depression. An eating disorder diagnosis. Anxiety. A long, slow, hard-fought recovery.
Gradually her fears faded and she grew strong once more in body and in spirit. She made a public confession of faith and was baptized.
Now her fervor for the pure truth of Scripture begins to grow arms and legs as she works to shape an adult life that reflects her values. There are fewer declarations, and more doubts and questions as both her understanding and her exposure to life's hurts increase. What are God's plans for this arrow, his consecrated one?
My role as her advisor and comforter and guide diminishes bit by bit as she takes on more responsibility for her life. I step back. I pray more and say less. I offer less advice (sometimes to her frustration!) and instead ask questions. I love her, and I entrust her more and more to the God who loves us both more than we could ever love each other.
She's consecrated to God. She's his arrow, not mine. This is a good thing: He's a much better Marksman than I.
“And may the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God
and into the steadfastness of Christ.” (3)
(1) Psalm 127:4 (NIV)
(2) 1 Kings 8:58 (author's paraphrase)
(3) 1 Thessalonians 3:5 (Berean Literal Bible)
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