Belated Mother’s Day Blessings to you!

You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.  And to all these qualities add love, which binds all things together in perfect unity.  The peace that Christ gives is to guide you in the decisions you make; for it is to this peace that God has called you together in the one body. And be thankful.  ~Colossians 3:12, 4-15

Love needs to be tough and tender – the tension between the two is an unusual combination, but a necessary one.  Character and boundaries are tough, and it hurts your heart sometimes to discipline the ones that you love.

Do not withhold correction from a boy, for if you beat him with the rod, he will not die.  You shall beat him with the rod, and shall deliver his soul from hell. ~Proverbs 23:13-14 

Discipline without tender love in your heart for the one you are to discipline will turn into separation rather than God’s intended person. 

Because the Lord corrects everyone he loves, and punishes everyone he accepts as a child.” ~ Hebrews 12:6 

There is no better picture than a mother with a child of God’s tender care for those that He loves. And when you think of all the things a mother has to do that are challenging – changing over 2,000 diapers, cleaning up all the messes, and a hundred other duties to an infant to take the next steps.  Think of God’s love for us through His Holy Spirit who takes care of us day by day and how patient that God is with us, just to help us take the next step in our lives. 

May the Holy Spirit continue to bless you on your next step!

Pastor Larry