I stood in the backyard. The sun was shining with one of those heartwarming glows. The sky was mostly clear. The evening was still but for the shrill cries of children laughing.
Two of my brothers were playing with their children. A primitive form of tag. My nephews and niece’s childish minds could
not fully comprehend the rules of the game.
But that didn’t matter to them.
They got to run and reach out to tag their dads.
A smile involuntarily stretched across my face as I
watched. There are some moments in life
where I don’t want to step in but just stand back to watch. To witness the beauty in the moment.
My opinion of my nephews and niece didn’t change. I love them but they were not what made this
moment hit so hard. So, what was it that caused this memory to linger in my mind, striking emotion in my chest and eyes?
It’s a beautiful thing to watch a dad take time to be with
his children. Watching them play such a
rudimentary form of tag far beneath their level of intelligence. And yet they love it because they love their
children. They love watching them
laugh. They love spending time with
them.
So often I make the time I spend with God about me. I’ll check the clock. Sit down spend a bit of time reading my Bible
and spend a bit of time praying. Check
the time again. On a good day I’ve spent an hour, maybe a little more. I think
I’ve done pretty good.
But this moment watching my brothers spend time with their
kids has flipped spending time with God upside down.
I make the time to spend with God (saying now I don’t think
it’s wrong to set aside time to spend with God and in fact think it is very
healthy and important). But the Creator
of the universe, our heavenly Father, makes time to spend with me. (Also literally makes time. Think about that for a second.)
The moment I witnessed between my brothers and their kids was
beautiful because two dads took time to spend with their kids. The kids responded with love and affection.
It’s the same with God, I think. What is far more amazing than me spending
time with Him, is God spending time with me.
A broken, wretched man like me and somehow God wants to spend time with me.
If that is not good motivation to set aside time for Him, I don’t know
what is.
I can almost guarantee if you ignore a toddler consistently,
you’re not going to be the person they’re excited to spend time with. But when you set aside the time to be with
him, the results are beautiful.
Knowing that God longs to spend time with us should fill us
with such love and affection for Him that we long to do the same. And we can any place, any time. What a great, loving Father we have!
