"What a blessing!"
Okay. Is anyone tired yet of how I keep recommending being mindful of language and how we can enrich our speech spiritually? Maybe you guys all do this naturally, but I feel like where I live I am always surprised when God is mentioned or even people acknowledge the possible existence of a higher power so this is the kind of stuff I think about a lot.
I am blessed, in my medical practice, to take care of lots of South American immigrants as I speak both Spanish and Portuguese. Many of these patients are Christian. All the time my patients will end our visit wishing that I "go with God" or "have God with me". I am blessed to feel at liberty to speak about God's will and help my Christian patients dealing with the loss of a loved one to try and see God's hand in even those sadnesses. When I was considering having my fourth child even though I am in my late 30s and mentioned to a patient my worries about the increased risk of problems she smiled and said to me "that's God's decision." I heard her. And as I write this post our beautiful fourth child is napping in my arms. I also feel tremendously grateful for our Christian hybrid homeschool program where we parents request prayers from one another and have a common goal of raising children who deeply love our Lord and God and Savior Jesus Christ. Finally I have Ancient Faith and another Christian radio station that I love (K Love) and can listen to and hear the voices of people who love God and who recognize our need of God's love. But most of these things have happened to me within the last 7 years of my life and the prior 30 were remarkably secular aside from regular Sunday morning church attendance.
No matter how much we try to shelter our children it won't be long before they recognize that most people in our society today do not center their lives in Christ. Most imagery, radio, television, magazines and books, including children's books, do not speak about God. And while we may try valiantly to make sure we speak about God there are so many ways in which our language excludes Him. One particular way that I began to notice as my eldest child became verbal was the use of the term "luck". So often people say how lucky it is or how lucky you are or what luck! In fact, as Orthodox Christians, we understand that all of these " lucky things" are actually gifts from God. Blessings that He bestows upon us as his beloved children.
Since that time I have tried hard to remove the word luck from my vocabulary. Instead I talk about how blessed I am/we are. Instead I try and openly thank God for the gift. Instead I try and say "What a blessing!" Every little bit counts towards helping our children immerse themselves in God's love.
My daughter is turning five today and I made her some special breakfast this morning. She noticed how the French toast developed a hole in the middle that perfectly collected the maple syrup for dipping her other toast in. She was admiring how it had happened and I suggested that perhaps it was a gift from God for her birthday. She smiled and nodded her head! What a blessing! These are the small, but steady ways that we can keep our children's minds focused on God.
(Photo from Canva)
May our every effort be blessed!
In Christ's love,
Sasha