Today was my dad’s 95th birthday, an occasion like this makes you take time to reflect. As I watched him taking calls of congratulations, reading and re-reading his many birthday cards, I realized that he seems frail. When I was a little girl I thought my daddy was the biggest, strongest man there could ever be, Superman certainly had nothing on him! When I was five we lived in Lockhart, S.C. It was a “Mill Village”, which meant that everyone who lived there worked for the mill. I don’t remember what they made, may have been sheets, towels, I am not sure. The street we lived on had a dead end and the church my dad pastored was at the end of that street. Little identical houses lined both sides of the street; we lived in one of those small houses. The Superintendant of the Mill took a liking to the “preacher” and when one of the foreman’s moved, he decided to let us move into that larger house, it was high on the side of a hill. There was no refrigerator in that house so we were to take our old one there. No one was available to help move it so daddy wrapped a big leather belt around it and somehow attached it to his back. I can still see the ladies and young boys standing with wide, unbelieving eyes watching my super dad hoist that big fridge on his back and walk it up that hill, sweat pouring off that big, crooked, Armenian nose. As I have grown older, so has he, so that now I know that his physical body is not invincible, as I had once believed, I offer him a helping arm. Oh he is still very strong, I tease him that he “dead-lifts” 230 pounds every time he stands up, because he has to push himself to his feet using the strength of his massive arms and chest, but still, he is old. Psalm 34:2 My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. As a child we are convinced of our daddy’s greatness and will say, “My dad can do anything”; then we realize that he is indeed human. However, for the child of God, the opposite is true, as we grow in understanding of the greatness of our Lord. As growth increases our awareness of His greatness, both in His love for us and in His power toward us, we will become increasingly more dependant on Him to direct us and enable us. That defines “walking in the Spirit”. Then we increase in our desire for childlike worship-ready praise that is vocal and visible in our celebration of Him! Psalm 131:1-3 Lord my heart is not haughty, nor my eyes lofty. Neither do I concern myself with great matters, nor with things too profound for me. Surely I have calmed and quieted my soul, Like a weaned child with his mother, like a weaned child is my soul within me. …hope in the LORD from this time forth and forever. In this Psalm David is describing himself as a small child, looking to God for everything in the way a child looks to its mother. True maturity looks less and less to our own wisdom for answers or to our own earthly strength for results and trusts the Father entirely. Then when God moves on our behalf, we will find you bragging about Him to anyone who will hear it! It is important to ask ourselves if people know who our “Daddy God” is. My Daddy God has been so good to me, He answers all my prayers, yes ALL, sometimes He has to tell me no, but even when He does say no, I always end up understanding why…that’s how good He is. Sometimes it seems that He looks down the road and “knows before I call” and “answers while I am yet speaking!”
Be blessed, Pray, brag on your Daddy God a little!
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