My youngest turned 8 yesterday. It was also the day my girlfriends were scheduled to come over for our Bible Study. We had cupcakes and sang to my son prior to our study, and after, three of us had lunch together. As is common among women when their children turn another year older, we began comparing birth stories. Because of different families and eras, there were different traditions, yet similarities. But of course each one was unique as each child is unique and special.
I was reminded how the night before my husband and I told our son of the day he was born just as we’ve done many times with the others. It truly is a wonderfully warm feeling that each one of our children know that their debut into the world is a precious memory in the minds and hearts of their parents. They all know that it was a day that we anticipated with joy. We spent time and energy preparing, and now we talk about it often so that it’s etched in our memories…and theirs as well. They know how important they are to us.
Later that afternoon, it was time for the young man that I tutor to come over for his hour and a half session. I reminded my boys before his arrival that they’ll have to go upstairs while he’s here so as not to distract him from his work as focusing does not come easy to him. I then remembered, just moments before the doorbell rang, that he too had a birthday this week. I was pretty sure it was the day before and so I thought I would motivate him by a promise of leftover cake and a song when his work was finished.
The next thing I know, my sons were running to answer the door just as the chime rang throughout the house. I got up and followed much slower than my energetic children. But it wasn’t my student at the door, it was his grandmother, and she was in tears over her grandson’s behavior. The two of us told the boys to go upstairs and we stepped out onto the porch where she summed up the fight she and my student had just had. The young man was still sitting in the car crying with the door locked, and the exhausted woman standing beside me desperately needed a break. I understood. I’ve felt like that before.
As I walked to the car, he unlocked it, dragged his backpack inside my house and flopped himself on my couch to chill out and calm his temper. She likewise went home to do the same. Fortunately, my sons who would normally come downstairs several times anxious to see their friend, did not disturb us once while we sat in my family room for about an hour working through his emotions. I insisted he call home and make amends before we did any work. He did so leaving us with a half hour before his grandfather showed up to take him home. Needless to say, we never sang or ate any cake and I barely remembered to wish him a happy birthday. He responded with an insincere “thank you”.
After he left, I felt tired and sad. I knew this 12 year old did not have tender loving stories told to him about the day he was born. He was not reminded of the careful planning that went into his arrival. In fact, he hardly sees his father and hardly knows his mother. This young man was a meth baby.
Grandma and Grandpa were told of him the day he arrived by their own son who along with his addict girlfriend was not fit to take care of a baby. So, the aging couple drove the distance to rescue this child on the day of his birth. They would repeat the scenario 3 more times over the years until their home was filled with 4 challenging boys all born to a meth addict. Now when other couples their age would be enjoying their retirement, these two are struggling to get through each day with responsibilities that most young couples don’t have…facing embarrassment at times when they’re overwhelmed and brought to tears.
I was filled with regret as I thought about what I wished I would’ve said to him. I told him how much his grandparent’s love him and he needed to hear that, but I didn’t tell him how much God loves him. Why? Was I not supposed to? Maybe, but oh how I wished I had said something about the careful planning that God put into him…how his Maker smiled as He knit him together…how the Lord was there in the room rejoicing over his entrance into the world…how God has plans for him, He’s never changed His mind about those plans, and those plans are wonderful.
Well the words didn’t come to me at the right time so I guess it wasn’t the right time to say them. Maybe there will be another time and until then, I can still open my door to him when he needs to calm down, I can still be a listening ear and I can still pray for him. As I thought about this, the Lord told me that I was serving Him by listening to the boy’s cries of guilt and frustration, bringing him tissue to blow his nose, and filling his mind with truth even if it wasn’t so-called “spiritual” truths. He then brought to my mind a vision I had earlier in the week.
In my vision, I was hunched down working on a project. It was a building project and at first it looked like large “Legos” being constructed all around me on the ground. It was like a fortified wall being built up all around me. But they weren’t “Legos” and they weren’t snapping together. They were jewels being sewn together. They were large precious jewels of the purest and most vibrant colors. There were rubies, sapphires, emeralds and many more that I do not know the names of. I was sewing them into a garment starting with the hem on up. I was wearing nothing but a white slip and this would be a robe to adorn me. 
I did not have jewels scattered around me to work with. Each one appeared in my hand just as I had finished one and was ready for the next. I thought to myself that it’s going to be heavy by the time I’m done. But since the weight was being added little by little, I would slowly build my strength so I would be ready to wear it in the end. I realized I had started in the fetal position, but by the time I would be finished, I would be standing strong. I looked around me and realized that there were others doing the same thing.
I didn’t understand this vision at first, but as the Lord brought it to my mind this time, it made sense. Just as a mother and father plan the entrance of their baby into the world, God is planning our birth into eternity. As we go through this life doing kingdom business, serving Him by serving others, we are adding to our robe of righteousness. We do the work as He adds the righteousness. And when the trumpet sounds, we will be a beautifully adorned bride ready for our bridegroom wearing a fortress of a garment that we built together.I greatly rejoice in the Lord, I exult in my God;
for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,
and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness,
as a bridegroom wears a turban and a bride adorns herself with jewels.
Isaiah 61:10
Amie Spruiell
1/7/2011
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