I try to plan Wednesdays as my marathon day rather than be
away from the family multiple evenings.
So, today I knew the kids would be in bed before I am finished with my
last appointment. Of course, today they
decided to sleep in longer than their normal 6:30 or 7 AM wake up time. I normally leave the house by 7:15, but I
decided to linger a little longer in hopes of seeing them.
Seth was the first to wake up. He staggered to the couch trying to get his
eyes to adjust from a good night’s rest.
I sat down next to him and he laid his head on my chest. I pulled him close and he said, “You want to
play Mario Brothers with me?” “One game,”
I said, “I need to go to work.” I played
one game thinking that may be Anna would rise from her slumber before I
left. We played our game, Anna was still
in bed and so I said my goodbyes and was out the door. I was just starting to pull out of the garage
when I heard, “Daddy!” I looked up the
stairs and there was my baby girl, who is quickly becoming less and less my
baby, “I want to give you a hug before you leave.” Work could wait. I put it in park, got out of the car and she
jumped up into my arms. It was one of
those long, I-am-still-waking-up-hugs, that I think every parent must
love. “I love you so much Daddy,” she
whispered.
Perhaps as you read this you see a rather sappy child-father
moment that just about any parent could share.
And, I will give you that…on one level that is all it is without
context. Let me put it this way…do you
ever have a day when you wake up and you just feel like the weight of the world
is pressing down on you? Do you ever
wake up feeling like you have to fight off discouragement before you even brush
your teeth? Do you ever have days when
for some reason that you can’t even put your finger on you feel very
alone? If so, then put the above sappy
father-child story into that context.
Now, what do you see in that story?
I will tell you what I see…saw…I saw God the Father finding
a way to come down from heaven and give me a hug in the morning through the little
arms of my children. In case you have
not figured it out by now J
I am not exactly the “warm fuzzies” kind of person. I may not be strong and athletic; I may not
enjoy sports or work on cars or have the ability to fix things, but I come from
a long-line of Current men who are normally characterized as firm, honest and
strong in their convictions with a good dose of out- right stubbornness. But that does not mean we do not appreciate and,
frankly, need a hug in the morning every once in a while. So, I thank God for not only my children’s
hugs this morning but for using that moment as a way of revealing his presence.
I share this with you is because I am convinced that if we
will have our eyes open, then every child of God can experience a hug in the
morning from the Father in Heaven every morning. I would suggest that you and I both would be
well served not to leave the house until we have waited on him to reveal his
presence every morning. It’s more than
reading a Bible verse and regurgitating a prayer you say every day out of
habit. It is about becoming desperate to
encounter the Holy presence of God. It is about expecting that any moment the
Father is going to come down the steps and offer his renewing embrace. It is about refusing to pretend we can make
it through whatever the day may hold without a fresh encounter from him. It’s about not settling for knowing about God
and longing to increasingly know and be known by God. Simply put, it is about lingering as long as
it takes to receive a hug in the morning by none less than the living God. You
get the feeling the Psalmists of old mastered this way of living a long time
ago: “Morning by morning, O Lord, you
hear my voice; morning by morning I lay my requests before you and wait in
expectation” (Psalm 5:3).
So, what about you?
Did you have your hug this morning?
If not, I have good news. The
Father has been known to give hugs in the afternoon as well. All it takes is a little time to linger.
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