Terri's BlogChristian perspective on today's issues.

FOR GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD

Fathers and sons. Daddies and daughters. Two of the most heartrending relationships ever. From the moment a newborn emerges warm from his mother’s womb, a young father accepts into his hands a small red-faced-nine-months-worth-of anticipation. The connection is instant. His heart no longer belongs only to his wife; he shares it with this little human being God entrusted to him.

On the way home from the hospital, the baby is dressed in a pint-size jersey and itty-bitty shoes that Dad’s thumb could fill. Soon binkies and diapers disappear. On lightning-bug evenings in the back yard, he tosses a Nerf football back and forth with his son. Then before Dad has turned around twice, he is helping the boy cast a line in a pond where his pride-and-joy’s first catch is a huge….Styrofoam cup. When he captures the cracks-me-up memory in a photo, his parents tell him his son is the spitting image of himself at that age.

Before he can blink, Dad is teaching him how to treat girls as ladies and that he is  tough enough to be tender with them. With fear in his heart and a prayer on his lips, he watches his firstborn behind the wheel and backing out of the driveway solo that first time. On the day his son’s wide shoulders fill that man-sized jersey, there is talk of scholarships and college. Sunrises and sunsets speed past and his boy brings home a pretty girl; when they look at each other, they have stars in their eyes. Then comes the question how Dad asked Mom to marry him.

Ah, but from birth, little girls hold in their hands their Daddies stolen hearts. From

the moment of awe of how that big ole hair thing will stay on her tiny head, he is filled with wonder. The warrior in him rises; his fists curl into fists at the thought of anyone who might harm a hair on the head  – or break the heart – of his little princess. His big fingers are clumsy as they tie the ribbons on her ballet slippers, tilt toward his mouth a doll-size cup at her pretend tea party and carry shopping bags with Barbies and their dresses. His face goes soft as his heart when her small sandaled feet remain on top of his Oxfords as he carefully steers her around the floor at the Daddy-daughter dance.

He hollers louder than any other parent when his baby walks across the stage in her kindergarten cap and gown. Time flashes by. With his hands in his pockets, he stares at his beauty in her prom dress and thinks surely his eyes deceive him; she can’t be this grown up. Though they had their ups and downs when he did too good of a job trying to protect her, even now, she still has him tightly wrapped around her little finger. The years fly as she walks across more stages for more diplomas. Then all too soon, a shy young man asks Dad’s permission to change her name. As he gazes at the stars in their eyes, he remembers his own when he caught that first glimpse of his wife-to-be.

In his guidance, his protection, his example, Dad demonstrated to his son and daughter what a father’s love was. And they watched. And they learned. How much more does our Heavenly Father love us? Teach us? Guide us? How much more does He want to take joy in our laughter? Hold us close in our grief?

Enough to sacrifice His own Child. Imagine how the Creator of the universe felt when He sent the angel Gabriel to tell Mary what was to come.

Imagine Dad having those same thoughts if his treasured son had gone off to war. Or his anxiety if his cherished baby girl became a dedicated physician and he watched her plane lift off the tarmac to transport her to the jungles of a third-world country.

Most of us were raised by a father, or at least a father figure, who showed us the

way. Yet your childhood may have been a nightmare – you might have gone to bed hungry or with bruises on your back – but whether or not you felt Him, Father God was there.

He was in the bleachers cheering when you were the first one to run across the goal line on that asphalt track; congratulating you on all that studying when you finally got a B in Algebra; and when all your friends abandoned you and no one in this world seemed to  notice or care.

Our Heavenly Father knows what sacrifice is; what love is. He saw your pain and collected your tears in His bottle (Psalms 56:8) for all your triumphs, all your tragedies. Every single one. He mourned with you because He understood. With His own beloved Son, God made the greatest sacrifice of all.

Because He so loved the world.

 

Elaine Hall