What Was Mom’s Favorite Color?

You would think I would know the answer. Yet, as my son waited on my reply, my mind was blank.

How is it possible that I could forget Jill’s favorite color? I’m sure at one time I knew. What does that say about me?

I painfully had to admit to my son that I couldn’t remember such a simple detail.

Bryce was three months old when Jill passed away so I feel a deep responsibility to make sure I provide him with a strong representation of who she was.

As the words, “I can’t remember” passed through my mouth, I could feel failure.

It felt like I had failed Jill and I had failed my son.

As a single parent, representing someone else is a tall task. Some single parents represent another parent that was never there. Others have the difficult assignment of representing a parent who was there, but chose to leave. Others represent a parent whom they left.

In any case, representing another human being is difficult. And to do it perfectly is impossible.

However, there is one person who represents others perfectly. On the cross, Christ represented us by taking our sin in our place. 2 Corinthians 5:21 states that God, “made the One who did not know sin to be sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

After His resurrection, Christ ascended into Heaven where he sits at the right hand of God representing us perfectly to the Father on our behalf (Romans 8:34).

None of us is capable of being a perfect parent, much less, two perfect parents at the same time. But because Christ represents us before the Father, He is mediating for our weaknesses, our faults, our oversights –and yes, our sin. Oh, and did I mention that He represents us perfectly –based upon His righteousness? That means when the Father looks at me, He sees Christ’s righteousness.

That takes a lot of the “Single parenting” pressure off. Not just the pressure to represent my wife to my son, but even more, the pressure to represent Christ to my Son.

What a comfort to know that Christ helps me fill the void in my son’s life by representing the love He so desperately needs from a mother. And how wonderful that through Christ, I am given the grace to love my son more than I ever could on my own. Color me represented!