Parents of John the Baptist - my role models.

John the Baptist happens to be one of my favorite characters in the Bible; i am copying the text from NIV below that shows the events concerning the foretelling the birth of John.

i honor his parents equally. Zechariah and Elizabeth. When i look at the role of his parents it is humbling, for all of us as parents to learn. They were righteous in the sight of God, as i have underlined below. they followed all the commands and decrees of God and were blameless. they didnt try to help God out in any way like Abe and Sarah did many many years ago nor did they let their son loose like Samson, even though his parents were good, godly and sought the LORD how to raise Samson. Somewhere along the way, Samson lost his sight and his vision.  But John's parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth; their faith and trust in God even at the old age is par excellence.

God in HIS own time, said, Zechariah, "your prayer" has been heard, for all those years, One God, one man, one wife, and one prayer!!!!! and not only for Zech and Liz's joy but John was to bring joy to the entire kingdom of God; be a forerunner for Christ, so God fulfills his promise and answers our prayers in his wise time; we need to learn to be patient. He answers prayers which benefit to the entire human race and eternity. All we need to do is be still like Zech and Liz were before the LORD and trust God; and even if God chose not to bless them sooner with a child, they still didnt try worldly ways for their 'comfort' or their desires to be fulfilled. to me this speaks volumes. Either God will give us a child or we will die childless. They chose no other option. That is the truth and faith in God!

Bible clearly says, They were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive. here i honor Zechariah. He didnt take another wife or a concubine, perhaps he didnt even think, as the bible says, they were blameless and righteous in the sight of God, (who searches our hearts and intent, who knows what others dont know) Nor do they think of adoption, now, dont get me wrong, adoption in and of itself is not wrong, if God calls one for it that is between them and God, but in this case they were trusting God to bless them with a child even after it was 'too late' too late meaning as per the worldly standards. God is the God of impossibilities and above any human system.

Zechariah loves his wife and honors her to be his wife for better or for worse with child or without child till death do them apart. Married people what do we learn here, about loyalty, faithfulness and choosing to love and stay in the marriage? or honor the God blessed and God ordained marriage! not adding any extention to it nor cutting the chords.

Do we at times, try to see if we can twist God's arm to answer our prayers our way in our time, like i want what i want and i want it now? then our concept of God is like a Ginnie who answers our requests and who is at our service. While God has asked us to ask anything in line with his will, we need to also submit to what he wants in our lives and at his time. So, praying and fasting helps us to humble before God and adjust to his timings rather than demanding our way with him. We need to ask for grace to hold on and trust Him.

We also need to remember that our job description has been laid out for us before we are born. We need to just report for duty. check this out.

Angel told Zechariah that his son that Elizabeth will bore will be a delight and a joy to you and many will rejoice because of his birth, (not just a couple but many) and will be great in the sight of God. Oh! what a wonderful promise! He will live a godly life and make good choices, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit before his birth. He was further told, john will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God.  And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

John's job apart from being a forerunner of Christ, was to bring back many people to their God, be a forerunner in the spirit and power of Elijah and turn the hearts of parents to their children and children's heart to their parents.(reconciliation)

Parents, are we listening? where are the parents hearts' these days? if their hearts are in making money, or wordly passion is it any wonder that when children dont walk in the ways of the LORD, parents' hearts are not to their children? and children's hearts to their parents. This speaks a great relationship of John with his parents. he would have to see his parents hearts to him and him as obedient to them.

It was a shock to Zechariah that he almost was in disbelief. how can this be? i am old and so is my wife! He had perhaps accepted and adjusted to being empty nested for life and then just when we are at the end of ourselves God does the inconceivable and brings life into it. let us not be in disbelief then. Because he didnt trust God at that time, he was made mute until John's birth. Gabriel was sent to speak to Zech. Gabriel was being obedient to God's call. Zechariah goes home and later on we are told Elizabeth stayed in seclusion as she was 5 months pregnant. "The LORD has done this for me" Elizabeth was a woman of God, she gave glory to God, infact, she knew 1st about Mary's 1st and holy miraculous pregnancy. we can see these couple walked close to God and not only they had relationship with God but they fellowshipped with him and God told them the stuff that was to happen.

May we all desire to be the spouses, and parents that Zechariah and Elizabeth were! boy! that must not have been easy to live in the society that put children as a 'thing to gain and show off', to have been married young and live upto be old, very old, and still continue being righteous in God's eyes as not to complain or be bitter. The purity, loyalty and dedicaiton to God and to each other that this couple displays is excellent. is it any wonder God chose them to nurture, bless and raise John who would be that loyal and submitted to God and humble to Christ, and at one point in life so bold as to the point of being beheaded for standing up for righteous holy living?

Are we willing for our children to be that bold, fearless and speak up for God. Are we raising them meek and fearless? walking in the ways that please God?

May this bless you as you ponder the character of Zechariah, Elizabeth and John and let God speak. in His peace and faithfulness, kalpna

Copyright at Kalpana Sharma (Mrs.)

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold : Luke 1: 5 onwards (NIV version) In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were righteous in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commands and decrees blamelessly. 7 But they were childless because Elizabeth was not able to conceive, and they were both very old. 8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside. 11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to call him John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even before he is born. 16 He will bring back many of the people of Israel to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the parents to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.” 18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.” 19 The angel said to him, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their appointed time.” 21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak. 23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”

Handmade Crafts

this family heirloom was made especially for our precious daughter Narita after her birth.

This cute one was made for our cutie, Stuti, as I was execting her.

this is called a Muiko, a wooden spoon in Swahili language, we have used home made dough to fashion little vegetables and glue them on and colored and varanished them. Did this with a precious friend in Kenya.

This is a baby basket with artificial flowers inserted in an empty Icecream plastic can.

This is a miniature grocery shop version of an indian grocery of many different lentiles and nuts placed in sacs.

the different styles of pastas are glued on a wooden chopping board and varnished. we added a colored wheat strands in a sac and a wooden spoon too. perfect to hang in the kitchen.

this is a jewelery box, made of metal structure and organza material with loads of beads and ribbons glued on to it.

and these are bread or food covers

too good to call it a trash can, so we stored girls' unused pampes in it.

this is a tissue box container.

i made this in the 1980 while in college. its a flower pot hanger, in India they would use it to put yoghurt pot and hang it in the home.

This is a soap basket, made with covering a lux soap and artificial flowers and a ribbon covered wire for a handle.

strawberries and arrangements colored and arrange together.

this is a soap swan, again soap covered with loads of feathers and artificial flowers and lace. u can mould the beak from handmade dough.

the furry scarves in all colors and sizes, this is my winter activity.

the two baby sweaters made just for fun, one is crocheted and one is knitted

these are crocheted baby booties and a cap

All images  have copyrights to http://www.kcswritings.blogspot.com/  / Kalpana Christian Sharma.