Thursday, November 30, 2017

When you can't see God he's still there

Brethren, my son Ender is cute as a button.  He’s had my heart ever since he got yanked into the world. And he likes me too.  He always has big smiles for me.  He gives me really nice dry burps faster than anyone else.  He likes our ceiling fan more than me, but I’m no chopped liver, according to him. 
Ender and I spend a lot of time together.  His mom works part-time and I’m home for the summer since I’m a school teacher; so there are five hours a day that I get to play Mr. Mom.  We really like our time together.   
His nap is usually after we’re back from a long walk and I’ve fed him, burped him, changed him, and worked him out with tummy time and a stuffed bee he likes to abuse.  It usually happens in his room.  I know from experience the nap is going to be between 30 and 45 minutes.  
This is my time.  I really like to cut loose right about now because I know the grind is going to continue in just a bit so…  I wash his bottles and pacifiers, make him a pitcher of formula, wash his clothes sometimes, start to prepare lunch, put a bottle in the warmer, tiptoe everywhere, text my wife things about the morning since she tracks his meals and diaper changes, and sometimes get ready to go on an errand with him.  Sometime during this ‘me time,’ he starts crying. 
He wakes up alone and scared so he cries out.  You know if he really thought about what I was doing he probably would think I was taking ‘me time.’  He probably thinks I’m watching soap operas, doing my nails, or weight lifting.  ‘Dad is probably reading some esoteric history tome.’ (I love personifying my son (I know it’s not really personifying because he IS a person.).) 
So I’ve noticed that my son doesn’t realize that when I’m not with him I’m still taking care of him.  You know this, even when you’re at work you’re taking care of your kids, aren’t you?  Rent isn’t going to pay itself, right?  Sometimes the most important things we do to take care of our children is stuff they can’t see us doing. 
Sometimes our heavenly father seems to be very far from us.  We are in the desert and he is nowhere to be found.  We are taking up our crosses and following after him and he is forsaking us.  We’re going through personal tragedies like dead loved ones or divorce or unemployment and God has left us in our crib and shut the door.

But God is the Father and even when he isn’t taking care of you he IS taking care of you.  He is filling your life with providence even when he feels far away.  He is making sure that all things work together for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purpose.

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