“The eyes of the Lord are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.”
Proverbs 15:3 (RSV)
When my twins were three, I had an opportunity to do free lance artwork from home. I illustrated educational audio visual filmstrips and was painting the illustrations in our family room area where the boys played, so that I could keep an eye on them.
One day they were extremely mischievous, far beyond what was normal for three year old active twin boys. I had a difficult time finishing my art job, and I finally said to them, “You are not acting like the same Mikey and Jonny today!”
One of them answered, “You are not acting like the same mommy.”
I thought, “What? Wow! “ I really learned a lesson that day. We naturally expect that our parents would be steadfast and unchanged in their behavior and give us their same attention each day. My children noticed my new distraction and they were simply reacting to me. I am an imperfect parent, who has learned from my mistakes. That day I learned it from the mouth of my three year old son.
People may change and even fail us, but God never changes. His love and attention toward us is perfect. He doesn’t get sidetracked with special interests and obligations. He is God, so He gives us personal, undivided attention all the time. It’s up to us to believe it and receive it.
God never changes, but there will always be adults who act as if God is a distracted parent and not interested in them. I wonder how often people are acting out because they falsely perceive that God doesn’t care about them. God gives each person His same attention and love, even if their own parents didn’t. If they only knew, they would surely behave differently.
Children need the presence of a caring attentive parent just as we all need to know God’s caring attentive presence in our adult lives. We need to visualize Him with us, by faith, watching over us in every single part of our day, even when things are not going as we would like.
Because He loves us as an attentive affectionate father, He has much more to teach us, and He finds different ways to do it. Sometimes He teaches us through the words of a toddler, like Jesus said, “out of the mouth of babes….”
Heavenly Father, thank you for being a patient, attentive father to us. Help us to train ourselves in knowing that you are with us in every part of our day. Reveal your love to us and help us to receive what you want to teach us each day. Amen