They've already asked countless times: "Will Dad be home tonight?"
My standard answer: "If no one at the hospital needs him...."
They ask again. I assure them he'll be home AS SOON AS HE CAN. They glance wistfully out the window, and I whisper a prayer. "PLEASE, bring him home soon."
The door jars; a stampede crosses the carpet. Daddy's home! Daddy's home!
His happy hello is swallowed by squeals and hollers. By the time his eyes meet mine, he's got one child wrapped around his knees, another hanging from his neck and three more jumping in front of him.
Mom may provide the steady comforts of home, but Daddy sparks celebration!
Not long ago as I watched our children tangle themselves around Rob's tall frame, I imagined Jesus. I pictured Him, dark and handsome, with little arms and legs looped about his own. Surely, when Christ said, "Let the children come to me," they did not form a quiet circle. I'm guessing the youngsters climbed and swung and dangled and laughed. They fought for position and vied for attention. After all, a child knows an Abba when she spots one.
In her book, Further Still, Beth Moore writes :
My romance with Jesus Christ began in a tiny circle of baby-bear chairs in a Sunday School class of a small-town church. My teachers were not biblical scholars. They were moms and homemakers. I'm not sure they ever delved into the depths of Scripture or researched a single Greek word. They simply taught what they knew. I don't know any other way to explain what happened next: I believed.
I remember thinking how handsome Jesus was in those watercolor pictures and how I had never seen a man with long hair before. I wondered if my Daddy, the Army major, would approve. My favorite picture was the familiar one with the children climbing all over Jesus' lap. As I recall, it was the only one I ever saw that captured Him smiling. I determined quickly that big people bored and upset Him and little people made Him happy.
Next time you watch your children using Daddy as a human jungle gym, say a simple prayer that they will climb onto the lap of Jesus with the same delight. Then take time to savor the scene in your mind's eye...
and don't be surprised to see your Savior SMILING!
Today's Treasure: Let the children come to me. -Mark 10:14
