God says I’m…

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Do your kids ever inspire you? There are times when I am just blown away by my children’s view on a situation or themselves. They have such precious, innocent, unpolluted thoughts. It is a marvel and really makes the childlike faith talked about in Mark 10:15 understandable. My daughter ran for student council at the beginning of the school year. It was one of those things as a parent where your heart sort of teeters…proud of your child for putting themselves out there, but a nervous wreck for them and their heart if they don’t make it. I get the life lessons blah, blah blah, but really our hearts are broken if our child’s is broken. Nobody likes that! The election process allowed each candidate to make a poster of themselves for display at school…it is the sum of their “campaign”. We are talking about elementary school, 4th and 5th grade. Mae loves stuff like that, I helped her gather supplies and off she went. She knew exactly what she wanted her poster to look like. Here it is…

 

The minute she showed me her campaign piece I knew she was going to be ok, win or loose. There might be tears, but her heart was in the right direction. I was so impressed and inspired by the way she saw herself. The confidence she had to speak out loud about who she is. All with a humble heart. This child is shy, non braggadocios and tender hearted. I never saw myself the way she does and if I am being honest, I’m not sure I do to this day. This poster inspired me to think about the words we hang on to. Sometimes the older we get the more we hang on to the words and descriptions the enemy hurls at us. They become our truths, they play over and over in our head until they drown out the good words that Christ whispers to us. I don’t want my kids to grow out of the way they see themselves and I want to see myself more like they do. From all these thoughts this little project was born. I call it the God Says I’m… picture frame.

We have tons of old pictures frames floating around our house, you can find similar ones at the dollar or craft store. The kids joined me and we sat outside to paint the picture frames and mats to match their rooms. While sitting and painting you have captive moments to have great conversation. We talked about the words they feel the Holy Spirit whisper into their hearts and the other times they hear the devil yelling at them. I explained the purpose of this frame. My ideas is that whenever God speaks to them and tells them how HE sees them, when HE pours truth into their hearts they write it down on this picture mat. Then when they have a bad day, are feeling down and low they can always look to this picture to be reminded of the truth of who they are in Christ. The words on this picture are not compliments from mom or dad, friends or family, but God himself.  The whole project took 15-20 minutes, not including drying time, which was just long enough to keep them interested and engaged.

I sent them off to play and once the picture frame and mat where dry I put them back together again, in a different order. The mat goes into the frame first, then the glass followed by the picture to allow the mat to be exposed so they can write on it whenever the moment strikes. Once I placed the frames in their rooms I just waited. Curious if they thought I was crazy or if they even paid attention. The following week I went into their rooms and noticed they had each, in their own time written a sweet truth. Thank you God for speaking to my babies.

Don’t you think we all need this? Reassurance we can see and touch when we find ourselves wallowing in the pit of self doubt and incompetence. I do. I haven’t made my own picture frame yet, but I am going to! I hope this inspires you to make one for yourself or with your kids. Oh – and my sweet girl made the student council, tears avoided for now!

My son, pay attention to what I say; listen close to my words. Do not let them out of your sight, keep them within your heart; for they are life to those who find them and health to a man’s whole body. Proverbs 4:20-22