written March 11, 2001 published in the Link & Visitor [date?]
I saw it today! It was just a glance, but I caught a glimpse of how God must look at me! I was sitting in the second pew from the front during the church service and our pastor had invited all the children who were going down to Junior Church to join him at the front for a short story.
I could imagine all the thoughts that he must have in his mind at this time. He is in the middle of conducting a worship service and as he is speaking to these children, I am sure he is carefully choosing his words and monitoring how the children are behaving and reacting to those words. But also in his mind, I imagine, he is musing about the tone of the service so far, about the words and delivery of his upcoming sermon, the prayers that he will lead, and so on. So much is going on in his head as he speaks to the children, as he smiles at them and tells them of God’s love for them.
But in the course of his story, he casually turns to the child to his left. For a few brief seconds, across his face I see the gentlest hint of radiant light that reflects such love and adoration – he is gazing down at his four-year old daughter, Nora, as she, with her own adoring eyes, beams up at the face of her father, who so deeply loves her without question and without fail! The tone of his voice does not change; the flow of his story remains constant. But amid all his ongoing words, thoughts and actions, all the love that he has for this child shines down upon her, as if she were the only person in the room, and as though nothing else could take his attention away! The bond between them is unmistakable, and in that instant, I see in her reciprocal gaze that her love for him is such a gift to him.
As I witness this fleeting, intimate moment between a father and child amid so much other activity, I am given a renewed sense of closeness and intimacy with my own Father, who, I remind myself, always finds time to gaze down so lovingly upon me, no matter what else He is doing. I have a renewed sense that as I gaze back up at Him in worship and adoration, I give Him a gift of love that bonds us in eternity.
Just as I know our pastor will always love his daughter, regardless of whether or not she is gazing up at him with those loving eyes, so I also understand how God loves me too, even when my eyes have strayed from his gaze. But that connection of love between father and daughter today made me realize how important it is to GOD that I take that time to sit at His feet and just adore and worship Him! What joy I can bring to Him in my gift of love – no actions, no words can be more powerful in His presence – He asks only for my imperfect love! And I, in return, am perfectly loved! Praise God!!
