My newly minted teenager has been going around asking her mom and me to give her “the look”. You know, the one all parents give their kids from time to time that says they’re about one millimeter away from the Wrath of Almighty God.
Of course, I’ve been giving her the look, but I exaggerate it and make it a funny one and she gets a kick out of it. She was placed in our home when she was a week old and when she was nine months old; we adopted her. So, she’s been subjected to that look, the serious one, from time to time throughout her thirteen years of existence.
With May being the month of Mother’s Day, I think about my mom and the look she would give me and my siblings growing up. She passed away on April 28, 2015. She had a look that could scorch the paint off the walls. But whenever I think about her, I never think about those looks the most.
I think about the look she’d give me whenever I was a toddler and skinned my knee, and she put a band-aid on it. The look she gave me when I returned from Desert Storm. When I punched a school bully in the mouth, and he quit being a bully. That one was a conflicted look.
She was proud of me for standing up for myself but wanted me to know I shouldn’t make that a habit. She had a wide range of looks and they all said, “I love you.” Even the one that stripped paint off the walls. Of course, that look didn’t feel like love, but now that I’m older, I know there was love behind it.
How Does God Look at Us?
As I was pondering a mom’s look, a thought popped into my head. How does God look at us? I’d never thought about that, but He is our Heavenly Father.
Does He give us a look that peels paint? A look that says we’re about to experience His wrath. I don’t think He gives us that look. He poured out His wrath on Jesus when He was on the cross. Jesus took the wrath and punishment for sin so we wouldn’t have to. So, how does God look at us?
I think of the story of The Prodigal Son for the answer. I picture the prodigal’s father, at least once a day, taking time to stare out a window or stand on his porch and scan the horizon, hoping to see his son. Then, one day, he sees his son off in the distance and what does he do?
He runs to meet him, throws his arms around him, and welcomes him home. His look is one of joy, love, and forgiveness. He throws a party for his son and spares no expense. I think that’s how God looks at us when we come to our senses and grow tired of living away from Him. He sees us coming, meets us in the road, embraces us, and looks at us with love, joy, forgiveness, celebration. A look of Perfect Love.
Maybe you didn’t have the greatest Mom. You felt no love in her looks, or maybe you’d have been happy if your mom would just look at you at all, no matter how that look was. You can rest in the look God gives you. A look of perfect love.
Romans 8:1 says: There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
I think about our adopted daughter, and how she may have never experienced a mother’s look. We adopted her and now she goes around asking us to give her the look. She’s secure in that and knows the scorched paint look isn’t the only look she gets. She gets plenty of the other looks, too.
A mother’s look means so much because it’s a reflection of God’s love for us. The love that will climb any mountain, cross any river, bust through any wall for her children. A love that will lay down her life for her children. A love that says, “I pity the foo’ who mess with my chil’,”.
Here’s Looking at You, Moms
So, Happy Mother’s Day to all the Mom’s.
The Lord bless you and keep you;
The Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26.
