THANKFUL

I recently attended a writers’ conference where one of the speakers, Frank Ball, told about playing Hide and Seek with his little granddaughter.  My mind drifted back to the early nineties when our little granddaughter Lyndel would stay with us.  She was a little brown eyed beauty who was constantly giggling.  She was a happy little girl and brought great joy to her grandmother and me.  She had captivated our hearts.  When I would put her to bed we would play a game before prayers.  She would cover her eyes and I would say, “Where’s Buddy” (that would be me) “Lyndel can’t see Buddy!  Where’s Buddy?”  She would just giggle and her curly little blonde hair would just shake from laughing so hard. Then she would quickly pull her hands off her eyes and I would say, “Here’s Buddy!  There’s Lyndel!  She couldn’t see Buddy!”  Her soft little eyes would light up so bright and just as quickly as she pulled her hands off she would cover her eyes again and the game would start anew.   She thought because she could not see me I could not see her.  This would go on for some time before Buddy had enough.

That was nearly twenty-one years ago but the memories of Lyndel and me playing that game bring back such warm memories.  I can look back on my sixty-four plus years in this soup called life and recall that during the painful times of rebellion and foolishness I could not see our heavenly Father …but He always saw me.  In fact, His eye has never been off me.  He even told me in His Word to call Him Abba, which translated means Daddy. * That is how close He wanted to be with me…why, I do not know, as flawed as I am.

I will bet there have been times in your life as well when you thought Father was in another universe and did not care one iota about you.  But Daddy wants that same close relationship with all of His flawed children.  The list of people goes way back.  We are not alone.  All of us, from Adam, to Moses, to Elijah, to David, to Solomon, all the prophets, to the disciples have cried at one time or another, “Daddy, where are You?”  Even Daddy’s Son called out to Him during a night of great anguish, “Daddy, are You there?” As Lyndel grew older she began to realize that I was there all the time, watching over her, as she was slipping peacefully into slumber land.  She could rest assured all was well.

As I stumble and fall in this daily walk in the faith, like Lyndel, as I grow, I also realize how Daddy is constantly watching over me even when I cannot see Him.  Sometimes I will complain, “Daddy, where are You?  I need You right now!”  I demand.  I get loud.  “Can’t You see what I am going through?  Where are you Daddy?”  I usually say this after making some bone-headed stupid choice and got myself into a real pickle.  But not all silence from Daddy is from a poor choice we made.   Let’s be honest, okay.  We are real folks here.  All of us in the faith have questioned God from time to time, haven’t we?

“Daddy, are You there?”

“Hey Daddy, what is going on here, huh?”

“Why don’t You answer me Daddy?  Why are You angry at me?”

“What did I do to deserve this, Daddy?”

Then one day it all made sense.  It seemed like Daddy came over, put me in His lap and gently yet firmly whispered, “My dear child, I am not so much interested in your comfort as I am in building your character.  You see, if I rescued you every time you called, or in most cases complained, (that hurt!) then you would never grow, you would be so shallow.  You would not know what a good day is unless you had a few days where everything fell apart.  You would never know the joy of victory unless I allowed you to suffer defeat.  You would never see Me in the simple things of life if I gave you every whim you wanted.  Unless you were sick you would not appreciate the blessings of good health.”  It was beginning to sink in.  “But most of all, you would never know courage if I took away your fears and you would never know My power working in you if I took away your weaknesses.”  This realization was an eye opener allowing me to see how much I needed Him guiding my life.  All I could say was, “Yes.  Thank You, Daddy.”

He shows His love to all of us in the faith when He gives us a reprimand every so often.  All we can say is, “Yes, Thank You, Daddy.”  Like our little Lyndel who would fall asleep knowing her Buddy was watching over her we too can rest assured and be at peace knowing that Daddy is watching over us. Thankful Daddy’s eyes are always on us even when we cannot see Him.

*Galatians 4:6

©Jimmy Eskew