What is the greatest desire of my heart? Let me first tell you what it isn’t. It is not money. It is not status. It is not possessions. It is not youth. It is not beauty.
It is that my family share in God’s grace, goodness and love with me.
We have a lot of change coming up in our lives. We are moving. My middle child is graduating from high school. He will be heading off to college very soon. My oldest moved back home while commuting to college. And it’s just a matter of days before my youngest will get his driver’s license. Wow. At times I feel that I am losing them because they are all growing up so fast. That’s when I remember that they are not mine to lose. They first belong to God.
I love this passage from the book of Luke. It touches my heart as I read it and it comforts me to think about Mary’s love for Jesus. She was a mother just as I am. And she loved her son very much.
Every year his parents went to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. When he was twelve years old, they went up to the Feast, according to the custom. After the Feast was over, while his parents were returning home, the boy Jesus stayed behind in Jerusalem, but they were unaware of it. Thinking he was in their company, they traveled on for a day. Then they began looking for him among their relatives and friends. When they did not find him, they went back to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple courts, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions. Everyone who heard him was amazed at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished. His mother said to him, “Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you.” “Why were you searching for me?” he asked. “Didn’t you know I had to be in my Father’s house?” But they did not understand what he was saying to them. Then he went down to Nazareth with them and was obedient to them. But his mother treasured all these things in her heart. And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.
Luke 2:41-52
I love reading this story. My favorite part is the end when Mary “treasured all these things in her heart.” As I watch my children grow into young adults, I am so proud of each of them and I, too, treasure things in my heart.
As things change in my life at lightening speed, I cling to Jesus – WHO NEVER CHANGES. I thank Jesus for the three wonderful blessings He’s given to me in my three children. I remember that they are His and that He loves them even more than I do. I place each of them in His loving hands and know they will be protected, loved and cared for at all times. He. too, treasures them in His heart.
Great post. Thank you so much for sharing! And amen