L-Let Mercy Lead-Rich Mullins

L-Let Mercy Lead-Rich Mullins

“Aidan you're young

But Aidan you're growing fast

Me and your mom

And all the love we have

We can only take you so far

As far as we can

But you'll need something more to guide your heart

As you grow into a man”

When I went off to college, my dad wrote me a letter that I still remember to this day. He told me that there were certain things I would have to learn on my own that he and my mom couldn’t teach me. I remember been saddened by that fact and wondered how I would cope with learning things on my own.

Now I know what my dad was saying when he wrote that over 14 years ago. A week from today, my wife and I will be dedicating Joseph before God at our home church. It has gotten me thinking about the privilege and responsibility of parenthood. However, more importantly, it has gotten me thinking how I want to raise Joseph as a man who loves and follows God with everything he has in Him.

“Let mercy lead

Let love be the strength in your legs

And in every footprint that you leave

There'll be a drop of grace

When Joseph goes off to college many years from now, I want to say to him, “Your mom and I sought to show you how to love and follow God with the very living of our lives. Let the mercy of our God lead you into the unknown, guiding you to show mercy and grace to those you encounter in life’s journey”.

“Aidan the day

Aidan the day will come

You'll run the race

That takes us way beyond

All our trials and all our failures

And all the good we dream of

But you can't see yet where it is you're heading

But one day you'll see the face of love.”

I will not be there for all of Joseph’s life. However, for the part of his life I will be apart of, I want to encourage him to run the race of faith with perseverance, with his eyes focused on Jesus through his fears, trials and failures. Through the unknown, where he can’t see God’s hand, may he know God is for him and with him until the day he sees Jesus’s face.

If you are a parent, impart blessings upon your child, wherever they are in life’s journey. We, children, need wisdom and encouragement in life’s journey, and you, as parents, are one of our greatest sources of it. Help us to see that following Jesus is hard, but the greatest journey we could be apart of.

If you are not a parent, impart blessings on the children/people in your life. Let your words be a source of comfort in life’s unknowns, and encourage them to seek after God with all their hearts.

Let the mercy of God bring you into such a place that it will lead you to people you can be a source of influence and blessing today.