My child is not-so-subtly slipping into her rebellious years. More often than not, her response to me is, “Why!?” After a particularly combative day, I looked her in the eye and said,

“Because I said so!”

She looked at me for a moment and then turned around and did what I asked. The four words I vowed to never speak as a parent turned into a freedom I could never have imagined. I couldn’t stop from smiling.

A few days later, I heard my Father whisper a command over my heart. I was feeling quite combative and said, “Please, no, Lord. Why today?”

Because I said so.

Ouch. As I turned from my disobedience, I was quite positive He was smiling. I’m very good at rationalizing and procrastinating. I can be very rebellious and question Him with my desire for solid answers. But sometimes we aren’t supposed to know the answers. And sometimes the answers only come when we obey. Either way, those words spoken by God are a promise that He knows the answers, and that’s all that matters.

Because I said so. When we allow them, they are words that bring a freedom we could never have imagined.

I don’t know if you’ve ever had one of those days where ‘quiet’ kept running from you. I found myself chasing ‘quiet’ the other day while Evynn was chasing me. It was a game of tag and no one was winning.

I finally turned to Evynn and said, “I NEED TIME TO MYSELF!”. Just a couple minutes away from the ‘I wants’ and the ‘I needs’. PLEASE!!

When I knelt down to look Evynn in the eye, she stared back into mine and said, “Mommy, I see me in your eyes”. She was looking at her face reflecting in my eyes and I saw my reflection in hers. It immediately went straight to my heart. When she looks at me she will always see herself. I mold her. I shape her attitudes, her temper tantrums, her sense of humor, her anger, her patience, her laughter. And I will ultimate shape who she will be in this world.

I will have plenty of time to catch quiet. And then it will break my heart. So, when my daughter chases me, I will let myself get caught. When she wants to give me a hug, I’ll never say no. And when she wants me to hold her, even if I’m tired and needing some time to myself, I will try my best to remember that my time to hold her will end way before my arms are ready.




As the Perfect Parent, our Father will never run from His children, He’s the One chasing. He doesn’t seek alone time or quiet, He desires conversation. When we need to be held, He is there with His arms outstretched. And when we take the time and allow ourselves to be ‘caught’, my prayer is that others will forever see His reflection in our eyes