Parenting. Perspective. Parallels. And Cliché Words That Don't Start With P.

If you know me even slightly you know that I love my family immensely. My social media interaction generally consists of photos of my daughter, Amilia, and things I want to remember we do as a family. For every photo of her (and there are a lot), there are generally dozens of other moments that bring a smile to my face. Despite the dozens of really great moments, like every other family there are difficult ones. Take, for example, her reaction to lunch yesterday:

"A lovingly made lunch? No thanks, dad."

I find myself sounding increasingly "cliché" with her. "Eat it, it's good for you." "Trust daddy, he loves you." In her moments of pain or frustration I try to hold her close and tell her, "Trust me." I long to see her be obedient for her own good.

By God's grace, in college I experienced rapid spiritual growth. My roommate and I found ourselves doing things that seemed rather cliché. We used our mediocre skills as musicians to perform (a term I use lightly, as our neighbors at the time would likely attest to) "How Great is Our God" as loudly as we could in our apartment. We stayed up late to sit and talk about God's glory and magnificence. Being the "manly" men that we were, we at times prefaced spiritual conversations with, "It sounds cliché but...I want to love God more." Both of us had grown up in church, but head knowledge was becoming heart knowledge for both of us in a way we hadn't known before.

Fast forward to where I am today: a husband. A father. Much like other major life events, God reveals to us areas of our heart that need mending, cleaning, and care. I find myself holding my daughter as she cries because she can't do something she wants--she doesn't know it will bring her harm. I find my motives stem from wishing she'd be obedient. 

How often do I turn to things without asking my heavenly father if it's obedient? If it's safe for me to do? Too often. 

I'd rather sound cliché. I've learned (and often times the hard way) that it's better for me to offer it up to God first. 

For my family and me this is obedience: prepare and go to Japan to labor to see the gospel move in power. In preparation to go, whether I'm taking care of the day, planning my next week's calendar, or planning through selling our house I want to think through the question, "God, is this obedient?" 

Cliché as it sounds.