what she sees

So as I suspected, having a child gives you a perspective on God as Father. I thought it might. You can’t really understand that relationship until you’re a father yourself as you just have no point of reference. I’m beginning to get one.

Sadly though, the one thing I’m realizing so far is that, the younger you are, the less likely you are to truly love God. You need God. You might even depend on God. But you don’t truly love God yet. You can’t, you don’t even know what it means.

As I look down into the eyes of my daughter, I feel this overwhelming sense of love. This attachment and this desperation to provide for her, and protect her, and to love her with all of my heart. But as she looks back into mine, all she’s able to give me is a look that says “what are you? You seem to have a different pattern than the wallpaper.” This must be how God feels.

I have a different love for my parents now than I did when I was thirteen. I’m not saying that there wasn’t any love present at the age of thirteen, but it was more of a dependency and an attachment than a love. The older I get the more I love and appreciate them. But I still love and appreciate them only because of the love they gave me first.

With that in mind, it’s no wonder our Senior adults seem to have a love for God, and a love for the things of God, that I just don’t yet understand. They understand some things about love and God that I just can’t. Not yet.

A friend recently posted this on his blog…

“Hirsch and Frost provide a useful illustration of the difference between what they call a ‘bounded’ church and a ‘centred’ church. Briefly put a ‘bounded church’ is a set of people clearly marked off from those who do not belong to it – you’re either ‘in’ or ‘out’. Whereas a ‘centred church’ is defined by its core values, and people are not seen as in or out, but as closer or further away from the centre – the centre being Jesus. (No prizes for guessing which ‘model’ I prefer!)”

Good stuff.