Thursday, August 22, 2019

Manna and Memories by FCPC's Renee Wallace!



Manna and Memories -Renee Wallace

As our family heads into another school transition this week, with Andrew starting middle school, I was remembering our last big school transition that happened 4 years ago when Meredith started 1st grade.  Today I found some thoughts that I’d written then, and decided that I’d share them with you...as I am sure they express some sentiments that some some of you might be experiencing this week as well...

This morning was the first day of my youngest child's first grade year. It was the first time that everyone got on the bus at 8:00 in the morning and didn't come home until 3:30. It was one of those iconic days. You know, the kind you want to save forever. The kind of day you know will never happen again and so you take pictures and videos and scrapbook about it. You know the kind of day I'm talking about. You might have had a day like that of your own this week.
As moms, we get so sad. Our babies are growing up. They're never going to be so young and innocent again. We just want to hold on to them. We want to keep them sweet and safe and protected forever.
It makes me think about the manna and the quail.
Do you remember the story about the manna and the quail?
God's people were wandering in the desert after escaping from Egypt, and they were starving. They needed food...NOW. So God sent them manna and quail. Manna was this sweet, wild, dewy, bready sort of stuff. They found it on the ground in the morning. No one quite knew where it came from. And after it was on the ground for a little while, it disappeared. The quail flew into the camp every evening and flew away just as quickly. The people were told that they were supposed to take the manna and the quail that they needed just for that day. They weren't supposed to take extra for the next day, because God would provide more when the next day came.
Of course, some people didn't trust that God would provide extra. So they got their jars and when no one was looking they stuffed extra manna in them and hid them away.
It seemed like a good plan. But it didn't work that way. When they opened their jars later, they were full of maggots and nastiness.
It didn't work when they tried to save God's good gifts for another day.
And I was thinking how sometimes our kids are like our manna. They are these sweet little mysterious blessings that God has sent into our lives, and we just want to bottle them up and save them the way they are forever.
But it doesn't work that way, does it? No matter how many pictures we take, and no matter how many videos we post on Facebook, our kids are still going to get on that school bus the first day of school. And no matter how much we wish they wouldn't grow up, they still do.
And when we do try to save them and protect them and shield them too much, we really just stifle them...we keep them from spreading their wings and soaring.
Our kids are like the food in the desert...sweet and wild, and no matter what we do, we can't save them.
But here's the thing about the manna. It was new and sweet Every Morning.
Every Morning God provided fresh manna. Every Evening he provided fresh quail.
And Everyday God provides fresh memories for us and our children.
Sure the kids grow taller. Sure the homework gets harder. Sure building blocks are replaced with skateboards and makeup. But the best years of their lives aren't over. And the best years of our lives aren't over either. Yes, things change, but that doesn't mean that all the good is gone. It just means that new good things are going to happen tomorrow. It just means that God is about to provide new memories for us and our kids.
New manna. New memories. We can't save them. But we can enjoy the taste of the moment. And we can rest in faith that God will give us more of the good stuff tomorrow. It might be different, but it will be sweet, and it will be wild, and it will be good. 

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