Several summers ago, my salsa jar sprouted eyes.
The googly kind, of course. So did my milk jug, tissue boxes, egg carton and toothpaste tubes.
Don’t worry, those wobbly watchers didn’t leave me frightened or flabbergasted. After all, the strange surveillance gig was my idea.
I’m the one who dug through a box of craft supplies early one morning and located a stash of googly eyes. I’m the one who snuck through the house with a glue gun and attached those wobbly watchers to anything I could find.
I didn’t add a pair of eyes to the salsa jar because I wanted to play a prank on my family or because I had too much time on my hands at 6 a.m. No, I raided the plastic peepers because I was tired of forgetting.
I was tired of reading my Bible in the morning and going about my day as if God’s promises had no impact on my hours. I was tired of forgetting that God’s Word is active and alive (Hebrews 4:12). I was tired of relying on my own strength, instead of banking on His.
So, when I’d read 2 Chronicles 16:9 at the crack of dawn, I wanted to remember that glorious truth.
“For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him…”
I needed to pin that promise to my soul and let it shine hope in the midst of my weariness.
I needed to remember that when the toddler was crying and the tween was nagging and my young ones were fighting over the last cracker in the box.
That’s why my salsa jar sprouted eyes.
The gospel is radical and ridiculous in the most marvelous of ways, and I never want to forget that. The truth of 2 Chronicles 16:9a is audacious if you think about it.
“The eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth …” Wow.
We live wrapped in the warmth of God’s gaze.
We are watched by the King of Glory.
We are strengthened by the Author of Life.
Even when we fail to fix our sight on Him, God’s eyes are fixed on us. And remembering that truth could change everything.
If God sees us, then we’re not invisible.
If God sees us, then we’re not unknown.
Those eyes aren’t waiting to see us stumble. Those eyes are scanning this swiveling globe because the Creator of the galaxies wants to create something new in you and in me.
He wants to infuse our tired legs with vigor.
He wants to replace our whimpers with wonder.
He wants to trade our powerlessness for His power.
I need that truth when the laundry’s piling and the bread is burning and my energy is waning fast. I need that promise when my plans have flopped and my feelings have been hurt and my intentions have been misunderstood.
If God sees me, I am not forgotten.
All summer we chanted that truth aloud, whenever we squeezed a wiggly-eyed bottle of ketchup or sipped from a googly-gazing gallon of milk; whenever we poured a bowl of cereal from a winking box or scooped peanut butter from a shifty-eyed jar.
And you know what? Before long, that marvelous promise was etched on our hearts and stuck in our minds.
Eventually I threw out the sneaky-peaky salsa jar and the peeping peanut butter. I recycled the spying soap bottle and the gazing graham crackers, and my kids relegated our strange summer under surveillance as just another one of their mama’s crazy ideas.
But this morning, when I awoke feeling sapped and discouraged, I opened my Bible to Psalm 33:18 and wondered if I should go find my glue gun once again: “But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear him, on those whose hope is in his unfailing love” (NIV).
After all, it never hurts to be reminded that we’re being watched.
Questions for you: How does knowing God wants to strengthen you, change the way you can approach a specific mothering challenge right now? What Bible verse encourages you right now? How could you remind yourself and your children of that truth throughout the day?
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- Heaviness and Newness - December 23, 2016
