GOD HUGS

GOD HUGS                               

 “Mommy, I hurt myself.”  With tears streaming down her face, my daughter comes running to me, pointing to her skinned elbow.  I bend down, pick her up in my arms and give her a hug.  I carry her into the house and bandage the elbow.  Afterwards, we sit in the rocking chair and I let her rest in my arms a bit as we rock.  Then she’s off and running again, knowing that I’m nearby. 

            “Hugging” moments are special for parents. Cuddling up with the kids for a bedtime story, or back-from-school hugs or morning hugs or even spontaneous hugs are all treasured moments. As our children move into adolescent years, the open arm affection often is replaced by a  “leaning into” hug. (When my oldest daughter was 12 she would do a type of sideway lean when I asked for a hug.)  As they move through the teen years and into adulthood the hugs between parent and child may return but they are fewer and farther between then the early childhood years. 

            As my children have moved into the teen years, I have come to realize that those “hugs” were more than just treasured moments.  Each time I was available for a hug or asked for a hug, I was unintentionally teaching about God.  Wordlessly, I was planting the seed of faith and teaching about a God who constantly waits nearby to envelope us in hugs.    

            God’s hugs are bigger than any parents’ hugs.  They can hug the inside of a person when the hurt goes deeper than a skinned elbow. It is important that as parents we become intentional about giving our children opportunities to experience God’s hugs.  As parents, we are the first evangelizers of our children.  By bringing our children into the waiting arms of God we answer Jesus’ great commission to “go and make disciples of all the nations”. 

We disciple our children and bring them into God’s waiting arms when we establish God-centered rituals in our home.  Rituals like praying before meals, praying before bedtime, praying for others and giving thanks for the experience of God in our lives. We bring them into God’s waiting arms when we bring them for Baptism, or to church.  We can even disciple our children through simple moments like the spontaneous applause and shout of “Yeah God!” after observing a gorgeous sunset together. 

            God has designed families to be a school of evangelization.  The goal is to bring the children to God’s waiting arms.  As our children experience the warmth and comfort of God’s arms they no longer need to be brought, they notice and slip into God’s waiting arms on their own.  The cycle continues when and if God calls them into marriage and family, they then begin to bring their children to God’s waiting arms. 

            The key element here is the experience of God’s loving arms.  Unless I can name a time when I have felt God’s loving arms around me, I cannot bring others into God’s arms. I have met people who could not name a time when they experienced God’s arms around them until they were an adult.  Once they experienced God’s arms they became the greatest evangelizers, going out of their way to encourage others to develop a relationship with God.  It would seem that along with the experience of God’s arms around us comes the desire to invite others to that wonderful place.  Sometimes we bring others to that experience just by living a faithful life.

            My good friend, Patty Velghe, was a wonderful witness of God’s love.  As I watched her with her children, I could see God’s love shining forth.  It was a delight to share parenting tips with her and I learned to be a better parent by watching her simple gestures of love for her children.  When she died, her husband had engraved on her tombstone, “Her love was God’s music.” I know, through Patty’s witness, that the love of every parent is God’s music playfully, solemnly encircling our children and others into the waiting arms of God.  

By Sara Fontana (written 15 years ago but still pertinent today!)

 

GOD HUGS  

God waits.
I walk.
God waits.
I talk.
God waits.
I play.
God waits.
I move.
 God waits.
I run.
God waits.
I stop.
God waits.
I notice.
God waits.

I run into God’s arms.
God hugs.

Then…
God waits.
I rest in God’s arms.
God waits.
I rest.
God waits. I wait.

God waits.
I notice.
God waits.

I go and bring someone else into God’s arms.
God hugs.

Then….

GOD WAITS

By Sara Fontana

Definition of evangelization: Bringing others into the waiting arms of God.