He Never Lets Go
This evening, our darling son, Butter, got into a boatload of trouble with his Daddy. This is NOT a normal occurence. After he got into trouble, he cried it out in his room. His Daddy waited until he had settled himself down, then went to Butter to assure him of his sure and steady love for him, no matter what.
Butter spent the rest of the evening not only obedient, respectful, sweet and helpful...but his countenance and his entire demeanor radiated joy. He was over-the-top happy to be alive and his cheerfulness oozed out onto the rest of us.
Later, I mulled over the evening. And it struck me that while his obedience and respect may have been from the discipline, Butter's sheer joy was from the restoration of his broken relationship with his Dad.
What a picture of how we are with our Heavenly Dad!
We turn from Him and choose to disobey...even sometimes using the same lame excuse as our son did..."Because I didn't want to..." And then WE turn from our relationship with Father. HE never leaves us...He never lets go. We are the ones who choose to disobey because of our selfishness. But our Heavenly Dad loves us beyond measure, never walks away, never turns His back, never lets go. He always longs for us to come back to Him, always loves us, always cherishes, always waits.
And when our relationship with Father is restored, grows and flourishes, there is a joy in our hearts that can't be explained....every aspect of our lives is lived with joy.
Relationship restored.
Butter spent the rest of the evening not only obedient, respectful, sweet and helpful...but his countenance and his entire demeanor radiated joy. He was over-the-top happy to be alive and his cheerfulness oozed out onto the rest of us.
Pure joy.
Later, I mulled over the evening. And it struck me that while his obedience and respect may have been from the discipline, Butter's sheer joy was from the restoration of his broken relationship with his Dad.
What a picture of how we are with our Heavenly Dad!
We turn from Him and choose to disobey...even sometimes using the same lame excuse as our son did..."Because I didn't want to..." And then WE turn from our relationship with Father. HE never leaves us...He never lets go. We are the ones who choose to disobey because of our selfishness. But our Heavenly Dad loves us beyond measure, never walks away, never turns His back, never lets go. He always longs for us to come back to Him, always loves us, always cherishes, always waits.
And when our relationship with Father is restored, grows and flourishes, there is a joy in our hearts that can't be explained....every aspect of our lives is lived with joy.
Sheer, boundless joy.
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And poor Butter....what did he do?