They Did Not Know

There is a line in the book of Hosea that hits home for me. God is speaking about Israel — the people he has watched over, carried, fed, and rescued — and he says simply:

"They did not know that I healed them."

They did not know.

I think about what parents carry quietly, without their children ever knowing. The worry about what they eat, who they spend time with, what they're watching, where they're headed. The sacrifices — financial and otherwise — so a child can take music lessons or play on a traveling sports team or simply have new shoes for school. The hours of lost sleep. The prayers offered in the dark.

Children don't know. They can't, really. Not yet.

And perhaps we are not so different. God speaks through Hosea of teaching Israel to walk, taking them up in his arms, leading them with cords of human kindness, bending down to feed them. A long, tender history of care — most of it invisible, most of it unremarked upon.

How much has God carried for us without our knowing? How many moments of grace have passed through our lives unrecognized? How many times have we been held, guided, or quietly healed — and simply gone on our way?

The invitation today is simply to pause. To look back over your life with different eyes. And to say thank you for what you are only beginning to see.

Prayer: Gracious God, we confess that we have not always recognized your hand at work in our lives. Open our eyes to see the ways you have carried us — the healings we missed, the grace we walked past. Today we simply say thank you. Amen.

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