Joy and delight in our children

Today, as I was walking by a strip mall, I saw a mother with her teenage daughters laughing and walking arm-in-arm as they discussed the similarities between Thai and Chinese food. Their joy in each other struck me, as I so rarely see the same among teens and their Moms. It reminded me of a statement made by a son of Rick and Marilyn Boyer, who noticed that when parents "took genuine delight in their children," the children were less likely to stray from close relationship with family and the Lord when they grew up. This mother was obviously taking genuine delight in her girls, and their relationship and joy in it was flourishing. I suspected that these daughters would have little motivation to turn their backs on their mother and go their own rebellious ways.

In one of my Bible studies, we are learning about some of the ramifications of our God being a "happy" God, who takes infinite delight and joy in His Son. Because of His Son's sacrifice on the cross for my sins, He now takes infinite delight in ME!

"The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet your with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing." Zephaniah 3:17

(I can't get rid of the indent now on this dumb word processor so bear with me, indented!)

My Lord rejoices over me with singing! He is happy because I am His!

Likewise, I want my children to know that I am happy that they are "mine." I pray for the strength and ability to take genuine delight in them, even when they are challenging, and my life seems really hard. It is so easy to flip into selfish-mode and to focus on all the wrong things. I pray that God would give me supernatural joy as I go through the ups and downs of life with them, and that they would always feel that my presence is one of joy and delight in them. I pray that ultimately, their hearts would be inclined to His, and that they would understand that true fullness of joy is only in Him.