Glory to Glory

I have been thinking about how my kids are going to grow and someday tell others their story.  When all is said and done they shall leave me, find some other house and be established in it.  My hope is that all four will establish their homes in righteousness and be devoted to serving the great God of heaven and earth until they each breathe their last, remembering daily to bear their cross (not despising the shame), seeking first the kingdom of heaven and in all things giving thanks!!!!!

I then have the oh so humbling thought that I am a big part of the stories they will share.  I shudder to think of the stories that they CAN tell! 

 I remember this quote by Chesterton, “The supreme adventure is being born. There we do walk suddenly into a splendid and startling trap... When we step into the family, by the act of being born, we do step into a world which is incalculable, into a world which has its own strange laws, into a world which could do without us, into a world we have not made. In other words, when we step into the family we step into a fairy-tale.”

  I never thought about thinking about my life in this way.  It did many things for me (and the gift is still giving for I am applying it to the next generation!) and changed the way I viewed where I was put. I think of what this  means for my kids.   My kids did not choose me.  They did not choose the story that is so tied up in all that I do.  They did not choose to have a mom who struggles with her temper and is often plagued with some new sickness or other.  They did not choose a seriously ADD mom whose mind thinks faster than most fingers can type.   Nor did they choose a home where vast genres of music are blasted at a near 100 on the volume dial.  But  God…….

This where things always begin to get good!  They are here because of God.  The God who made heaven and earth, made the dry land and the seas, the sky and deep, the cow and the ladybug, the plants and the mountains, chose to put my kids in the Farley home.  When God made the world and all that he put in it, he declared it was good.  God also put your kids in your home because it was and is good.  They did not choose, but God did and he chooses better.

Lets do a quick little recap as we travel this logic trail.  God put your kids in your home and it is all good. 

But the verse I am so eager to discuss is from 2 Corinthians 2 3:18.  I love that we go from glory to glory.   Glory to glory, what can be more inspiring than this?

This passage, this thought, this truth of glory to glory is gospel truth.  It is not a nice after thought or something to be hoped for but instead is.  I am that I am made the world to go from glory to glory.  Satan, sin, you and all your horrible parenting mistakes (or failure to see your mistakes) cannot stop all things going from glory to glory.  God cannot be stopped by you or anyone or anything.  As Jason said a couple of sermons ago, your sin is not too big for God. 

Glory to glory. 

My story, Jason’s story, and likewise our childrens story are all wrapped in this glory.  No matter your past and the home you grew up in, God uses it all to transform you.  This growth is all upward, heavenward.  We are headed to heaven.  All this glory points to the glory that is Christ! 

So what do we do with this?   Well you live before God not despising the work that He is doing in you, through you and all around you.  God is working His Spirit into you and it is transforming you even more then Moses was transformed by meeting with God face to face.  In the passage we are looked at God reminds us that the glory of the old Covenant was glory indeed but it pales when you look at the glory now given in Christ through the Spirit.  Moses was such a man!  But the glory you have is greater.  There are degrees to glory.  Your glory is greater.  Not because you are greater then Moses but because the gift of the Spirit given on Pentacost was, is and ever shall be the means that God uses to write on our hearts.  Our hearts are being written on.  Not on tablets of stone like in the old covenant but on our hearts!!

What do we do with this?  Live before God not despising your story, your struggles, your kids, your husband and do not despise their struggles.  Thank God for it all.  See the glory that He is taking you to!  Look at all the glory that surrounds you now!  Have eyes of faith and remember that the biggest gift you give to your kids, to your neighbor, your spouse and church is living fully in the knowledge of all the Lord has done for you.  And……. this is not about you.  This glory is bigger then you.  But it is for you, to you and in such a big way that it spills onto your neighbors, your city, the surrounding nations and yes your posterity, starting with the little toddler that is in constant need of your attention! 

Remembering where you have come from (glory) and where you are headed (glory) keeps us focused on the one who is full of glory and to who all the glory is given.  Our lives give glory and the more glory we give, the more we reflect the One who died to save us and the world around us.  So here is to remembering the glory of the Old age while living in glory in this present time as mom and wife and looking forward to the glory that awaits us when we are welcomed home when this life is gone and the new embraced.