Psalm 78

My only daughter is four today. There are no more babies in this home. My older son has been really sad about it. He held her in his arms last night and told her he wished she would always stay little. Even she was concerned until I told her she would always be my baby. But she can't stay little forever. Those times are all just memories. That's not the way things are. I look forward with great anticipation to her future. To the future of all three of my kids.

This psalm looks both backward and forward. As parents, Brannon and I have a tremendous responsibility to teach our children who God is and what He has done. We have a list of wonderful miracles and providential journeys to tell them about that's just as long as the one in this chapter. If you've walked long at all with the Lord, you do to. But it easy to forget to pass them on. To tell them to the next generation. The Israelites certainly did. Their unfaithfulness was even part of the story they had to pass on. Our heritage with God includes both the good memories and the cautionary tales.

Today as my baby girl celebrates another year on God's green earth, I want to take time to look both backward and forward. Backward to precious memories of the healthy, beautiful, intelligent, and wonderful blessing of the third child God blessed me with. But with even more joy, I look forward to the path God has already laid ahead of her. The bad and the good. The tears and the laughter. The work God has prepared in advance for her to do. I pray that I will take the time regularly over the coming years to tell her the stories of God's great grace in my life.