By Katy Mariotti

What Will You Do?

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love.”
Galatians 5:13, New International Version

I grew up riding bikes ALL the time. Because of where we currently live, my kids have not have had as many opportunities to ride theirs, but they are getting faster and braver. Recently I took them to ride bikes around the lake. You can’t see it from this picture, but my son was already ahead of us, around the corner. And not long after I took the picture, they traded, with my son holding back and riding closer to me, and my daughter taking off to where I could no longer see her.

We’ve ridden around the lake many times before, and I know it to be relatively safe. But as soon as they turn the corner and go out of sight, my mom heart still starts to worry. What if they fall? What if someone grabs them? What if they make a poor choice? We live in an area with wild animals, what if they come across a bear or a mountain lion? What if, what if, what if…

Being a parent means finding the balance between protecting your children and trusting them. I’ve said before and I’m sure I’ll say again that becoming a parent made me understand God’s love for us in a new way. I understand more now how God must feel giving us, His children, free will. What will we do with our free will? Will we find a balance between being safe and being brave? Will we fall occasionally? The thing that matters most is that we use our free will to honor God. As the verse in Galatians says, we should use it to “serve one another humbly in love.” We should use it to follow His commandments and love one another. And it helps to remember that as I was not far from my children, God is never far from us.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado