View From the Bleachers

“Why can’t you see what I can see!?!”

There are days I’d like to try to knock some vision into my children. I’ve paid attention over the years. I think I have a pretty good sense of their giftedness and their capabilities. And I usually believe I know the best way for them to reach their potential.

But here’s the deal.

Though they share my DNA and some of my character traits, they are not me. I can’t make them see anything they don’t want to see. I can’t force them to change their perspective. And on top of that, sometimes I’m wrong. So I stand by and watch and wait and get on my knees and pray and on occasion ask God why this whole parenting thing has to be so crazy hard.

But sometimes, just when I think they will never get it, that they will never see the potential I see, they surprise me.

And I am like the parent on the bleachers watching her boy push through the blockers to sack the quarterback, feeling as if her heart is going to burst. “Did you see that?” I’d say to everyone within earshot. “Did you see what he just did? That’s my boy!” There is no prouder moment than seeing your child take ownership of his abilities and use them.

Sometimes I wonder how God feels as he sits in the hypothetical bleachers watching my story play out.

He has gifted me too.  He has set talents and passions deep inside my heart. Am I using them? Am I so scared of failure that I bury them deep inside? Am I afraid of what people will think of me? Have I grown complacent in my comfortable life?

How about you?

Maybe you can paint a picture that causes someone to stop in their tracks. Maybe you can silence a room with song. Maybe your fluency in Spanish is just the first step in a call to serve Christ in a foreign country. Or maybe your brain can solve complex math problems or develop a breakthrough treatment for cancer.

What if God was at the edge of his seat in the bleachers on the sidelines of your life ? Do you sometimes wonder if he’d want to knock some vision into you? Would he be thinking, ‘I know what she can do. I have such plans for her, if she could only see it.’

And what if one day you finally gave in. What if you said, “I’m scared out of my mind. People might think I’m crazy. But I know this is what God wants me to do.” And you do it.

And maybe nobody else will ever get it.

And maybe nobody else will ever even see it.

Your Father will.

And as he sits there in the stands, I imagine his heart might feel as if it’s going to burst from his chest as he wipes a tear from his eye and speaks quietly to your heart. “I saw that,” he whispers. “I knew you could do it. That’s my girl.”

Romans 12: 6-8  We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; 7 if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; 8 if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.