Keeping Check

I was in my office the other day and looking out of the window I witnessed something sweet… and totally revelatory. A father and his son, around two years old if I had to guess, were playing on some grass near my office building. A few moments later a couple of older boys, who had been playing nearby, came and asked the little boy if he wanted to play with them. The child looked wearily at them and held tightly to his father’s hand.

His father looked down and assured him that it would be ok to play with them. It took the boy a few more moments to let go of his father’s hand and go a few steps away to play with the other two boys, all the while the father watched on.

What stood out to me was not the fact that the father kept his eye on his young son, but that the young son kept looking back to see if his father was still there. No matter how engrossed the son became at play every now and then he would look back at his father and smile at the fact that his ‘daddy’ was still there.

As I saw this I wondered how this played out in the spiritual world; how many sons and daughters of God keep looking back to see if the Father is still there. I know that the Father never loses sight of us, but do we sometimes lose sight of Him?

Just imagine how that child would have felt if when he turned around his father was out of sight… he’d probably be devastated and panic. But his father was there watching over every thing his son did. After a little while the son became a little bolder and began running further into the garden. But as he did so he kept checking back… and I bet inside that little mind he instinctivley knew that if he kept his father within sight he would be safe.

A lesson we could all learn.

Chris St John
August, 2010