Apparently I am a slow learner who needs many different forms of stimuli and repetition to get something into my thick head. It seems that often when I am learning something in my walk with Christ, I have to learn it, forget it, relearn it, hear it from at least five different sources, forget it, learn it again…

That’s how I feel with this concept of abiding.

This week I’ve been hearing it from Andrew Murray.

And my own children.

And Francis Chan.

And C.H. Spurgeon.

And from what I read in the Scripture as I sit in our ABF.

The thought is slowly sinking in. How often do I settle for abiding with Christ, when I am invited to abide in Him? How often do I settle for having Jesus be my companion, when what He wants to do is consume me?

I think of the words I read as I sat in church.

…clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ… Romans 13:14

Clothe myself.

How ridiculous if I considered clothing to be something I just put on for a certain amount of time in the morning… and perhaps I would skip it now and then if I didn’t have time!

Clothe myself in Jesus.

To put Him on each day, wrap Him around my arms – everything I do, my heart – everything I feel, my feet – everywhere I go, my mind – everything I think. What if, instead of setting time with Him within boundaries and leaving it at the table each day, my whole life was consumed by Jesus. Wrapped up in Him. Inextricably bound. Hidden in Him.

To not abide with Him… but abide in Him.

What if I put on Christ?

You can find all of the posts in the abide series listed here.

My five year old had her first quiet time yesterday. I set up the audio Bible on my laptop and got her settled with headphones on the couch. I gave her a little spiral notebook and a pencil, explained that she could listen to the Scripture, draw a picture about it or write words to help her remember what it was about. We talked about how God wanted to meet with her and how she might pray – praising God for who He is, confessing what she had done wrong, thanking Him, praying for others. She nodded eagerly.

LB and I slipped away upstairs to put BW to bed. Well, I slipped up, LB stomped up. :) He asked what AG was doing – “She’s having time with God,” I answered. “I want to play with God! Where is God?!” His reply was emphatic, on the brink of a three-year-old breakdown.

My crazy little LB… how he loves Jesus. They have a picture of Jesus holding the little children in their room. They love it. AG picked it out at P Graham Dunn and asked wistfully with wide eyes if they might get it to hang in their room. How could we say no to that? They were watching a portion of The Story of Jesus for Children the other day, and we were talking about Jesus holding the children and the picture in their room. LB smiled with a twinkle in his eye and said, “Sometimes Jesus picks me up! Because He loves me so much.” Oh yes, He does, sweet boy. And someday in heaven He will pick you up and swing you around in His arms. How He loves you.

I knew this was what he was thinking about as he looked around the room and declared, “I want to play with God!” Jesus is so real, so tangible to him. In his mind, there is no reason why he wouldn’t expect to see Jesus sitting on the couch with his sister, reading a book or putting together a puzzle. Someday his concrete little mind will understand more… for now, I know God smiles tenderly at him like I do.

AG, meanwhile, settled in with her notebook. I had set the audioBible to play the account of creation from Genesis 1. After a while she came and told me she might need another pencil… and excitedly showed me her notebook.

“See what I wrote, Mom? ‘I love God.’ And I drew a heart. There’s an elephant, and a cat, and a fish… because I was listening to the story of creation.”

Sometimes I think my heart will burst.

It was 9:00. “Do you guys want to watch Word World?” The typical excited chorus answered, and then AG paused, “but, I didn’t pray yet! Maybe after Word World.”

After their show was finished LB and I went back upstairs because AG wanted to pray. I’m certainly not going to interfere with that! After a few minutes I heard her singing. She came bounding up the stairs and said, “Do you know why I didn’t pray as long as usual? I wanted to sing. I sang “This is the Day,” and “For God so Loved the Word,” and “Jesus Loves Me.”

This little window of time yesterday morning not only cemented in my mind that I need to be consistently deliberate about walking my children to the throne… it also smacked me in the face. My children know more about abiding than I do.

My son just wants to see Jesus. To play with Him, to show Him his favorite cars! My five year old daughter spent longer in God’s presence today than most adults do. They just love Him. The thought of Him picking them up and listening to their chatter is as natural as thinking about talking to me or NP.

He is real.

He loves me.

I can spend time with Him.

…what else is there to know?

Truly I tell you, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it.”

Mark 10:15

I’m over at Scripture Dig today digging into the topic of baptism… which really means you’re attending your own funeral! I hope you’ll come join us!

I have no post up for today

this has not happened since… yesterday.

I’ve done pretend and kissed a knee

and played a round of animal yahtzee.

I vacuumed out my washer that was full of pillow fluff,

I’ve done loads and loads of laundry and other mundane stuff.

We’ve stayed in pj’s far too long

and have sung lots of rousing songs.

We’ve played David and Goliath and slayed a 9-foot sheet,

We learned of God’s great promises and of Abram’s wand’ring feet.

Diapers, bottles, and burpcloths fill up the moments spare,

I often do not take the time to even brush my hair. :)

So… I have no post up for today.

I wouldn’t have it any other way.

[Hope to see you tomorrow! ...hopefully.] :)