Well, the Fall is squarely upon us, and last night the temperature dropped to the point where it was actually significantly cooler! That made me think about a memory from when my kids were much younger. The school year had started. Needing a momentary reprieve from the torture of their schoolwork, the kids excitedly began compiling their Christmas and birthday present lists. Hey, I’m a big believer that it’s never a bad time to make a list of stuff you want. Anyhow, my son bypassed the list altogether and just brought me several different toy catalogs stapled together. The coveted items were circled in bright-red permanent marker (it’s good to know he was using his powers for good and not for evil).
As he handed the “mega-list” to me, he said with a huge grin on his face,
“Here, Daddy! I knew you wanted to know what I really wanted.”
I had to laugh! But then I got to thinking about my son’s innocent act toward me, and my feelings started to kind of get hurt.
Directions to Daddy
I thought about the fact that my son, through his actions, was basically telling me “Look, old man, I don’t think you know me well enough to know what I really want–so let me just spell it out for you!” Truth be told, there were many circled items that I didn’t know he wanted. But then, as He usually does in situations such as these, God taught me something.
He said to me, “What kind of Father do you think I am?”
Ouch! He reminded me of how often I do the exact same thing to Him. For some reason, I think I’ve got to give directions to my Heavenly Daddy; to help God out and make sure He knows exactly how I want it all to go down. Silly, shortsighted, self-centered me!
Hey, don’t look all surprised—you probably do the same thing, too! But here’s the bottom line: if we feel as if we have to do that with God, what kind of God do we think we’re serving?
Jesus put it like this:
“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. “You parents—if your children ask for a loaf of bread, do you give them a stone instead? Or if they ask for a fish, do you give them a snake? Of course not! So if you sinful people know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give good gifts to those who ask him” (Matthew 7:7-11, NLT).
Telling Tattoos
I used to work with a guy who had been incarcerated, after a career as a very violent drug dealer and gang member. He’s now a pastor who does community counseling, prison ministry, and youth mentoring with gang members.
He showed me the palms of his hands. There were two names written on his left palm and two names inscribed on his right palm. When I saw that I snickered under my breath. He immediately heard me, and he turned his head and gruffly asked,
“What…what’s so funny, man?”
I said, with a wistful look in my eye, that I remembered doing the same thing when I was in elementary and middle school—writing the names of the girls I liked on the palms of my hands. Well, this caused him to stop and slam his papers and pen down. He whipped around and said,
“This ain’t no joke, man!”
I immediately stopped laughing and apologized saying “Oh, hey man. I, I, I didn’t mean anything by it. I was just taking a trip down memory lane…” He grabbed me by my shirt collar and pulled me closer. He put his left hand up to my face and softly said “Look closer man…what do you see?”
I squinted my eyes, took a deep breath, and focused. The two names on his left palm hadn’t been written in any kind of marker but had been tattooed on! I also noticed that they had lines through both of the names. I raised my finger to point and at the same time exclaimed,
“Hey! Why are there lines through…?”
“Those are the names of the two people I killed . . . because I was in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong crowd! I went to prison for that . . . and when I was in there, I found God, and He forgave me and gave me a new life.”
Then he held up his right hand for me to see. I saw two names written on that palm, but they weren’t marked out, and before I could ask him about them, he blurted
“I didn’t kill them. Just like I was with the two people I killed on the day I took their lives, I was with the two people on the day they were given life; those are my two kids, man! I have those names written on the palms of my hands to never forget who I used to be and who I am now.”
I inadvertently let out a loud laugh of both relief (that I wasn’t going to get my wig split) and shock about what I had just heard!
Later on that day, during my quiet time, after putting my own two kids to bed, I read these poignant words:
“Never! Can a mother forget her nursing child? Can she feel no love for the child she has borne? But even if that were possible, I would not forget you! See, I have written your name on the palms of my hands” (Isaiah 49: 15, 16, NLT).
What a wonderful thing it is to know that the God who made us, knows us, loves us, and wants only good things for us. Let’s remember that, and thank God for His goodness and His righteousness the next time we think that He doesn’t know and love us, which causes us to feel the need to tell Him what to do.
By the way, my birthday’s in November, and I love books! Just saying.
