Children that easily forget

5:1 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ 1 has been fathered 2 by God, and everyone who loves the father 3 loves the child fathered by him. 4 5:2 By this 5 we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments. 5:3 For 6 this is the love of God: 7 that we keep his commandments. 8 And his commandments do not weigh us down, 5:4 because 9 everyone 10 who has been fathered by God 11 conquers 12 the world. 13 (I John 5:1-4)

No child that grows up around loving parents ever desires to get big and leave his or her parents behind, or get away from them. That child imagines growing big and brave, but their parents will always be around, guiding them and helping them. Once they turn into a teenager, now that's a different story! That's when kids start to think they are better off on their own, and they start to rebel and go their own way. Keeping ourselves from slipping into 'teenager mode' is a constant struggle. When we get this way we think we know what is best for ourselves, and forget the love and correction that got us to where we are in the first place.

Not one of God's commandments is here to bring us misery or hardship in the truest sense of the word. It is crucial for us to get this, or else we begin to think God's love is less than it really is. I will be the first to admit I have given up too easily, that because I become too sensitive and offended by the narrow pathway that the Lord has put before me, I begin to turn to away from His love, and think less of it than I ought.

Today I made a big mistake. I should have played CBL, but ended up working out which took longer than I had planned, and went to the Ohio State basketball game instead. I would have been able to play CBL if I just went to the game late, but decided against it at the last moment. I know I let my teammates down, but saddest of all is that I would have been even happier being around my brothers and sisters in Christ. You guys really are my family, and everytime I see you all after a long week of classes, cold, and loneliness I remember how sweet it is to be among the Lord's children. Like Paul mentioned earlier today, if we think of the Lord's commands as burdensome, then we will feel weighed down. But if we push every hindrance aside, and bask in the love of the Lord as it melts away our fears, we will remember His peace. I'm sorry, and may the love of God keep us in 'toddler mode' and far from the haughty teenage years!