Like comfort from the consistency of waves slapping the shoreline, we are comforted by the immutability of God.

I the Lord do not change…(Malachi 3:6).

I took a human growth and development class in college where the instructor told us how important consistency is when raising children.  Children are comforted when they know what to exprect and can, thus, excell.  I don’t have children, but I was a child and I can attest to consistency through a particularly vivid memory from my childhood.

I was the youngest in my family, and as such, the most likely to spill anything. Add incredible curiosity and the limited attention span of a five year old to that equation and the result was generally soggy.

This day must have been a stressful one for Mom because, as she placed our soup, grilled cheese sandwiches, and cups on the lunch table, she made a pronouncement to my sister and me. When she poured the milk into our cups, she promised to spank the first one to spill any milk. I remember my stomach clenched up and food no longer held an appeal. I sat as still as I could and waited for her to finish pouring. As I watched, my mouth formed a large “O.” My Mother had gotten distracted, missed the mouth of my cup, and poured milk all over the table.

I don’t remember for sure, but I believe there was an “ahhhh-ah-ahhhh” you’re-in-trouble sound that automatically went with the facial expression.

Without cleaning up the mess and without a pause, my mother reached around and spanked herself to the delight of my sister and me. Part of the pleasure was in the slap-stick humor of watching an adult spank themselves, but the major delight to me was in seeing the impartiality of the act. It didn’t matter that she was the adult, that she held the role of mother, her words were true and trustworthy, regardless of who she was. That act made me feel connected to my mother because she demonstrated that she understood my plight.

God recently reminded me of this event in my past. Because there was a consistency in my mothers words and her actions that day, I was comforted.  God reminds us of His consistency throughout His word and through His presence in our lives.  God created us for relationship with Him.  When we sinned and made fellowship with His sinless purity difficult, God made a way through the sustitutionary sacrifice of His perfect son.  By accepting that gift,  God says that He continues that relationship by residing within us in the person of the Holy Spirit, also known as, interestingly enough, the Comforter.  That is consistency and comfort to me, to know that God wanted a relationship with me so much that He would make a way.  You can trust that consistency…build on it.

Karen Sleeth

Karen Sleeth has lived in North Carolina for 26 years and in her house for nine years. She shares her yard with a herd of about fourteen deer, a raccoon, a family of possum, a hawk and her young, a wise old owl, many birds, snakes, and a bunny she has seen only once. “I assume it took the warning I gave ‘Run for your life!’” This is Karen’s first year attempting to convince the deer that the yard is not their salad bar. Karen is a member of Christian Assembly Church in Durham.