Glue and Second Chances

Teenage boys: gotta love 'em!



Today William (15) and Jack (13), have used "No more nails" to glue the shed door and window shut, the trailer chock to the trailer wheel, and the front gate shut. Why you may ask? The answer eludes me. One part of me wants to have a 'finest parenting hour' and scream furiously at them BUT the rest of me is trying not to laugh, because it  is reallyquite a good practical joke!

Now they are off to the woods to play. The question that some will ask is, do I trust them to behave because of their earlier actions? The answer must be, yes.


How many times have I messed up, done things that have caused others, or my self to ask ‘why did I/you do that?” and yet, God has given me a second chance.
 I call our amazing God, The God of Second Chances. Each and every day I mess up and He picks me up, dust me off and reminds me in some way, through His Word, or a song or a conversation that I am loved, I am blessed and I am His. He allows me to continue in the role he has given me as a wife and mother, the call to witness through my life and to serve other women through church ministry and writing is still on me. I am imperfect and my life and walk with God is riddled with errors that I have made, with things I should NOT have said but Jesus gives me strength to carry on. He is my Rock; He is the Beginning and End and the Centre too. He is the One I turn to when I make a mistake, need protection, forgiveness and a place of safety. He is the One I walk with every day.  So, although I make mistakes and mess up,  my feet are firmly planted, stuck to the Rock of Life, Christ,   He is the Glue in my life.  It is my prayer that he will be be the Glue in my chldren's life too.


My Father gives me many second chances, I need to do the same for my children.  Jesus said, 'forgive seventy times seven times"   It is why God gives us, mothers (and fathers) an endless capacity for love,  there is always more to give!  There has to be, otherwise living  with children who break our precious ornaments, draw on our walls, cut up our favourite books and ruin countless nights of sleep, would be unbearable.  However, I have realised that I have to make sure my boys understand that there is a consequence for their actions whilst at the same time showing forgiveness so,  I did make them clean up the glue before they went to the woods. God does the same for us;  when we go to God about the harsh words we’ve said, or the people we’ve let down;  we are always forgiven but we still have to go and make amends, to clean up what we’ve done.


I sometimes, probably irreverantly, think,  I wonder if God looks at me and says "Oh Emma, what did you do that for?".  I do look at my children and think that.  Then I remember, I am God's and he loves me no matter how infuriating I am !  So, despite of how frustrating and awkward my boys can be, they are still the same precious people they were, when I first laid eyes on them ,at birth.  The love that blossomed then, continues now.  Praise God!

Just like God made me and you unique individuals,  He also made each of my children as a unique individual who  needs room to express himself uniquely and individually. Although, I would rather they didn’t do it by gluing our trailer to the driveway. Really, what were they thinking?

They probably weren't really thinking at all which is what happens in life genereally.  We do things without thinking which leads to consequences we didn't necessarily anticipate.

God allows me the choice to make mistakes everyday and I know I have to let these precious boys loose on the world to make their own choices and mistakes and while they are out there, I am trusting God for their protection, for his favour on them and I pray my two-fifty-two* prayer over them:

Father God, please keep them safe and let them have a good time and Lord, please don’t let them do anything stupid.

 Please Father, grow my boys grow into strong, faith-filled, wise men of God: the men that You made them to be. Grow them into Men like You, Jesus, who love and serve God the way He made them to love and serve Him.  Whatever career path they follow I pray that they would live each day with and for You, Lord.   Please reveal yourself to them and let them recognise you as the constant in their life, the Glue and their Saviour.  In Jesus' precious name, Amen.


Actually, I pray this prayer for myself too. The best gift I can give for my children is to be the woman God made me to be, the mother he made me to be, the wife He made me to be; to love and serve Him daily, to grow daily in wisdom and stature with Him, to ask that His favour rests on me.  I need to give thanks daily, that although I make mistakes, I fall down, I sin, God is the God who forgives he is the God of second chances.


So I praise Jesus, because his hand is on my life and just like I love my children, He loves me with the unconditional love of the Father-heart of God. I am there for my boys,  to tend to bumps, bruises, disappointment, and forgive them when they do something they shouldn’t, that is just what my Abba Father does for me. In a similar way to me being the one who makes their home a safe place and cares for them in times of trouble, God has done the same for me and all of us, Jesus died on the cross for us so that we would have a safe place with God, eternal life, a Heavenly Home.  

Consequently, here I am firmly glued to God, given a second chance, the one that is available to everyone.   I've tried the other way, living life without God, I came unstuck, but that is another story.....


*Luke 2:52 That Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men.