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Build Your Kingdom Here

Our little family loves music.
A couple nights ago we all went upstairs and cranked up some Irish worship music ((LOVE it- check out Rend  Collective )). Henry stood on a chair with a piece of pipe he imagined to be a microphone, and waved one hand over his head, singing along wholeheartedly. Jonathan turned a bucket over and drummed along with his hands, fully engaged. Josh strummed the boys' guitar per their request (...it has been so loved that it only has one string left...), and I had little Roo on my lap. The music was rather anthemic:

Build Your kingdom here
Let the darkness fear
Show Your mighty hand
Heal our streets and land
Set Your church on fire
Win this nation back
Change the atmosphere
Build Your kingdom here
We pray

My attention roamed from one family member to the next... Josh singing and "strumming", Henry leading the imaginary crowd, Jonathan fully engulfed in his drumming... and then I settled into watching little Roo. I was bouncing her along with the music on my knees, hanging on to the straps of her overalls. She had all four limbs wiggling with the energy of it all, her eyebrows up and eyes wide with enjoyment. When anyone made eye contact with her and smiled, she would flail her arms and legs, and burst into a squeal of excitement!

I've been praying for her spiritual life, even though she's tiny. My boys know God and want to live and fight for Him, and Evelyn is already dancing at His feet. Roo is my only child that has not yet chosen her side (consciously), and it matters to me a great deal. She is still so fresh, and was so deliberately given as a gift from the Father that I can almost smell wisps of heaven still surrounding her. Holding her on my lap, I realized the symbolism of it all. As parents we represent the spiritual world to our children, from the moment they exist inside us. It isn't just on evenings like that, that little Roo is watching us. In these early stages of life she will readily, wholeheartedly join in whatever it is we are doing!

I was so reminded of the importance of working to be healthy spiritually for the sake of our kids, and how vital it is that we openly let our kids watch us grow spiritually. (They watch whether we are aware of it or not!)

What an enormous task we have been given, to "raise up" each child...
...and what an enormous God we have to walk alongside us!

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