Watch me, Daddy!

Imagine a park, a playground bustling, the shrieks and shouts of children playing. Around the playground are the parents, minding their own business, reading, taking care of a baby or chatting with other parents, all the while keeping a watchful eye that their son or daughter does not swan dive off the monkey bars.  Almost invariably, a youngster will fling from the playground at some point in the scene, and run to their parent. It doesn't matter the activity in which the parent is engaged, the frantic youngster will make any and every effort to disrupt the parent's activity in order to get their parent's undivided attention.

"Watch what I can do!!!" the kid screams as he or she runs back to the playground, and attempts whatever acrobatic feat they have just discovered.

Next time you come across kids playing, watch out for this. Notice their approach. Bold, demanding, excited and expectant of the look of joy on their parent's face when they see the most amazing trick they have ever seen performed.

There is something in all of us that seeks approval. As in the example above, it usually begins with seeking the approval of parents. Approval is a very empowering thing. When a parent gives approval, it gives a child a sense of being pleasing to their parent, and gives them an incentive to continue pleasing. It also gives the child the willingness to continue discovering new and wonderful abilities they did not know were within them, something that enables them to overcome adversity in the future. It is in this way that children begin deriving a sense of self worth. I starts early on by seeking approval from those adults that surround them and care for them.

Often I try to draw parallels between my relationship with God and my relationship with people, and I noticed that they don't always match up exactly. I never really approached God as a child would his father. My approach usually sounded more like what you would hear in many churches these days, something along the lines of:

"Pardon me, Father. Thank you for your kind attention; forgive my interruption of all the more important things you are doing.  I know you are very, very busy.  Even though I don't deserve to be given much attention since I am only a small child, and you are such an eternally large Father, could you please find it in your heart to show me the small favor of (insert prayer request here), and show me everything I have been doing wrong, so that I can try to do it better next time. I know I am a screw-up, but please be patient with me, I will try harder not to be a screw-up.  I promise I won't be this needy all the time if you just do this for me, and thank you in advance if you do it. If not, its probably because I need to learn a lesson about not being so needy and for being such a screw-up. I love you so much for your kindness to such a small pitiful child like myself."

Ridiculous, isn't it? As I understand it, the whole idea of salvation is not the "fire insurance" concept of going to heaven, but to have a real, ongoing relationship with the Creator who is love. I have come to realize that God doesn't follow the old saying that children should be seen and not heard. I don't think there is anything more important to Him than hearing us call His name to get His attention, as we experiment, discover and overcome, all the while knowing that He is watching with a joyfully approving eye.