Three Eyes?

As I run or walk around my neighborhood, I have noticed most of the kids I speak to do not speak back. The other day I was walking and came face-to-face with a girl on the sidewalk. As I passed her, I smiled and said hello. She stared straight through me and never cracked a smile. I checked the mirror when I got home to make sure I didn’t have three eyes. It was refreshing the next morning when I ran past some younger kids waiting for the school bus and a little boy returned my ‘good morning’ and smiled back at me. I know it must not be the ‘cool’ thing to do, and perhaps it depends on their age, but still.

I wonder if that is how Jesus feels when we do not acknowledge His presence. Sometimes we know He is there but have a blank stare and never speak. Other times, we may not even be aware that He is with us because we are distracted by other things and the clutter of the world around us.

It made me think, is the only time we spoke to our earthly fathers as a child when we needed something or did we run to him in excitement with happy news, sharing a tidbit we learned, showing him a toy or laughing about something from our day so we could enjoy it together.

Our heavenly Father is no different, He delights when we run to Him with happy news and not just when we are pleading for help, perhaps from the mess we have gotten ourselves in. He is always there in good times and bad. Next time we feel alone and don’t have anyone to share a smile, laugh, or something we learned, (or even if you do have others to share it with) let’s try taking it to the One who delights in hearing from us. When we recognize God’s presence, speak and even smile – we can know He is smiling back, and we experience peace in His presence.

Sadly, in the broken world we live in, I realize some of you may not have experienced this type of relationship with your earthly father and it makes it difficult to see God as your Father. I am so sorry about that. But when we accept Christ and the love God has for us, and experience the abundant grace given to us by the blood of Jesus it is more than enough to fill those gaps, soothe our aching souls, and mend our shattered hearts, from whoever it was that hurt us in the past.

If you have not experienced the love your Heavenly Father has to offer because of a hurtful experience with your earthly father or someone else who was supposed to love you – please seek a Christian counselor who can help you unpack it and begin to understand how to accept a relationship with your heavenly Father – it’s life-changing. It may be hard work and painful to deal with those emotions at first, but it is worth it because you are worth it and loved immensely by the only One who can bring hope and healing to that kind of pain.

“May the Lord lead your hearts into a full understanding and expression of the love of God and the patient endurance that comes from Christ” (2 Thes. 3:5, NLT emphasis added).

“But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Rom. 5:8, NLT emphasis added).