Childhood Memories December 6, 2015

Read Isaiah 66:7-13

Isaiah 66:13      As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem."

2 Corinthians 1:3-4     Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort,
who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God.

Psalm 94:19     When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.

Isaiah 12:1     In that day you will say: "I will praise you, LORD. Although you were angry with me, your anger has turned away and you have comforted me.

Isaiah 40:1-2     Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.
Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and proclaim to her that her hard service has been completed, that her sin has been paid for, that she has received from the LORD's hand double for all her sins.

Our daughter was six years old when we told her that the parents of her best friend were divorcing. Soon she began to cry. We tried to console her. I had no idea what to do. Eventually, I gathered her in my arms and walked outside into the warm night. I don’t remember what I said, if anything. In time, she rested her head on my shoulder, and we simply gazed at the bright moon.

I had forgotten that painful yet tender moment. But over 30 years later, my daughter became the foster parent of a child who would cry at night because he missed his mother. My daughter told me she tried to console the little boy but to no avail. Remembering her own childhood heartache, she held him and took him outside. Together, they looked at the moon as she tried to comfort the child. In time, the child’s sobbing subsided.

I think of those times in our lives when God touches us with love and grace in moments of hurt and uncertainty. Those memories bring comfort and peace as well as thanksgiving and humility that God would intervene in the life of parents trying to comfort their child.