Monday, April 20, 2009

God Stoops

I got this image in my mind the other day of Father. I don't know if it was a flashback, vision, dream or what, but this was the thought that hit me:

I was a little boy playing in a playhouse, and Father came out to play with me. He went down to His knees and still had to bend over to barely fit through the door of the playhouse. Once inside, He took up so much room that I could barely get around Him to show him all my toys. The table, the stove, and all of the fake food that me and my friends played with.

The image faded into a bigger picture of God stooping to fit under the sky. It may make His back hurt, but He stoops because He wants to see what I'm doing and because He cares about my activities.

Isn't God a great Father?

2 comments:

JMH85 said...

I am not a parent, just a babysitter, but your story reminds of so many instances. I can't count the number of times that I have crammed into places I didn't fit or crawled around a floor or made a funny noise or worn a silly hat or done a silly dance. All because I absolutely delight in the children I am caring for and love being invited into their world.

It too reminds me of my relationship with God. I know that from an outsider looking in our relationship it would seem ridicules because He stoops, bends, dance all around with me. But it is because He too delights in me and is excited I invite Him in. It is amazing we all have a Dad who is so willing to do that for us if we just extend the invitation.

abb said...

God can be seen in a lot of different "roles" -- friend, counselor, king...

... but I've never seen a role more complex, imperative and ultimately rewarding than that of being viewed as our father.

I'll never forget a drama we did for one of our events... we were trying to show God as their father, a concept that is very hard for young girls without central father figures to accept or even understand. We put a young girl on stage and showed her playing in her backyard while Jesus played with her. We used a song called "Dream" by Priscilla Ahn which was perfect, especially the first few lyrics:

"I was a little girl
alone in my little world
who dreamed of a little home for me.

I played pretend beneath the trees
and fed my house guests bark and leaves
and laughed in my pretty bed of green..."

I'll never forget the looks on the girls' faces as they saw -- some for the very first time -- what it looked like to have God as a father.

A major portion of my thesis was actually on this topic... it centered around my idea that the upcoming generation of girls who have grown up without a father figure in the home may not simply have trouble viewing God as a father but actually also have trouble in not viewing Him in the same light as their own earthly father.

Talk about major transference issues... I don't think we've even seen the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the effects of a fatherless generation. It's going to be huge.

And I think the answer to helping these youth (both girls AND guys) is going to be for each of us to grasp this concept for ourselves so we can give out of that overflow. That's where I'm at with this right now, trying to get it for myself first so I can be able to give it to others next.