Father's Day

Sunday, June 21, 2009 (5:20 a.m.)

Amazing God,

Thank You! Again You surprise me. It’s Father’s Day. And I get to celebrate You as my Father. Wow! What a thought! What an honor and a privilege.

Thank You God that we are ‘so loved (John 3:16) by You that You gave Your only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.’ How often do I forget that Lord?

Not intentionally. Not on purpose. But how often do I get so caught up in the thoughts of all the other things to think about in the course of a day and completely forget that I am truly “so loved”.

Thank You God that it is the tiniest of glimpses of Your grace that bring me back to remembering how great You are. Take this very instant. In looking for my hymnal I find that several of my books are not where they belong. Did I move them? Is someone else using them? I honestly don’t know.

But in looking for them just now, I found evidence of one son’s love for his father and Bam! Just that fast I am in tears trying to thank You for it.

We, in this family, struggle with our relationships. We get angry instead of joyful. We ‘pick’ instead of please. We complain rather than compliment. We make misery instead of merriment. But You Lord, You don’t leave us alone in our humanness. No. You sent Your Son to show us the Way [and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)] and I can’t even begin to thank You enough for that.

Your grace is what allows us to keep coming back to one another and trying again. We falter, we fail and Your love allows us the chance to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and go on from there. Lord, I never can adequately thank You for the opportunity to be ‘so loved’ by You. Thank You for this reminder!

Thank You for a clean kitchen this morning, Lord. Dishes that I didn’t do are clean and put away [another glimpse of Your grace!]. The sweet smell of fresh strawberries mixed with cream adds another level of delight to the day. And even as I recognize this work as having been done on behalf of one dad, I get to reap the benefits of his celebration.

Thank You that Your love works like that as well Dear Lord. We never offer it to one that others aren’t blessed by Your goodness, mercy and grace. Thank You Lord!

Now, very selfishly, I ask that You would go before me, as well as in and with me as I prepare to meet another Sunday head on. I confess, Lord, right here for all the world to see, that I have yet to come to regard spending time with my mom as the gift that I believe it’s supposed to be. It’s challenging. It’s work. I don’t relish or appreciate it. I’m turning it to You. Asking You to do all the work that is necessary to change my heart on this. I don’t want to continue putting off and dreading the next two hours.

Two hours? Oh my goodness! There’s a cake to make and pills to sort. I’m behind already. Thank You for this time together to at least get the day started out of the right foot!

Happy Father’s Day, ‘Daddy God’. I love You! Amen.

(580 words ~ 6:28 a.m.)