...From Under Your Wing...

I just love this picture. It's from a while back, maybe last month sometime, but in reveiwing some photos, this one kept speaking to me.  The chick poking its little head out above the momma's wing is just precious to me.

This picture made me think of this verse in Isaiah.  It's the King of Assyria speaking.  Basically he's boasting that because of the negligence (or distraction) of the people, he was able to come in and take over and no one so much as spoke up or raised a hand to stop him.

"My hand has found like a nest the wealth of the peoples; and as one gathers eggs that have been forsaken, so I have gathered all the earth; and there was none that moved a wing or opened the mouth or chirped."     ~Isaiah 10:14

I have heard this likened to us, as parents.  We get so self-absorbed, so distracted with work, with leisure activities, with life's details, that we forget to protect and guard our children "under our wings".  We don't pay attention to the things that are influencing them.  And because we allow those influences without "moving a wing" and without opening our mouths or "chirping", our wealth--our treasure--our very children and their loyalties are removed from us and their values become those of the things we have allowed by our silence.

I am certain that this is a primary reason for the high percentage of teens and young adults who run screaming away from the church and even from the values held by their parents.  When we parents aren't putting our "money" or our influence where our mouth is, our kids perceive it.  They know what our true values are--the way we spend our time and our money speaks LOUD AND CLEAR.  If we don't raise a hand and chirp a little (or a lot) to protect our children from ungodly influences, they will be plucked from under our very wings.  Our children were given to us for us to protect and to guide and yes, to discipline.  If that was not God's intention, he would've just populated the earth with no "family" order.  But that's not how He did it.  He put children in families so they could be protected, guided, loved, and taught and there are clear consequences for ourselves and our children when we don't do our God-given jobs.