When my children were young I was outnumber five to one. Plus my oldest child was super smart. (unfortunately he didn't get that from me.) Lots of times he was correcting me, and by the 4th grade I couldn't even help him with his math homework. So thank God he never asked!!!!! But, I was the leader of my little pack, so I had a logo. Whenever the kids asked me a question and I would answer, they would say, "How do you know?" And I would reply, "Because Moms know everything." It didn't take them long to get where every question was heading. I would say, "Cuz Moms," and they would banter back, "Know everything."
We had other mantras in our house like, "We love our bread, we love our butter, but most of all, "we love each other." (I seriously considered changing that to "we love our mother) but for the most part they were always kind to me, but not necessarily to each other. We also had the mantra "To know and not to do..... is NOT to know."
As my kids got older and the questions got harder, I realized I didn't have the answer. As much as I wanted to know, some questions were just too complicated, too hard, or were something they needed to decide on their own. So, as a mom with adult children I found myself saying, "I don't know." And I felt like I had let them down. After all, Moms know everything.
It lead me to some soul searching. And what I found is that the older I get the less I know. And that is not necessarily a bad thing. At first I was putting everything in an I don't know basket. (Anyone who has been to my house knows that I love baskets. They are so good at holding all the things your not quite sure what to do with.) But eventually I learned to put all of my "I don't knows" into a "God basket."
I think as a mom and a leader of my tribe, I felt like I had to know everything. And honestly most of the time I didn't. But God does. I don't know why people say and do what they do. I don't know why people are suffering and cancer and Alzheimers are stealing away precious people from our lives. But God does. He is still on the throne and he is ultimately the leader of my tribe. And so I tell my children now, who are young adults navigating through this crazy life, that "I don't know, BUT God does." Take it to him because ultimately he has the answers. He doesn't have baskets that he stores the things he doesn't know what to do with. He is omniscient and omnipresent and he knows all things.
When the bible says God is omniscient it means that He has perfect knowledge of all things. God does not have to reason things out, find out things, or learn them gradually. His knowledge is absolute and unaquired. The psalmist wrote of God's infinite knowledge, "Great is the Lord, and mighty in power, His understanding is infinite." Psalms 147:5
With this knowledge of God's omniscience came the realization that there is no question too big or too awkward to ask God. God doesn't cringe at a question presented to him, like sometimes as a mother I can. God can handle the big ones and the difficult ones. It is in this basis of my faith in such a God, that this mom can rest, assured in his mighty strength and knowledge that he has those answers that elude me.
I guess after all, Mom's do know everything if they point to their heavely Father and say... He knows. Go ask your Father....