Oh, Just to be with the Father

Sneeze. Sneeze. Sniff. Shuffle.
“I forgot my pillow. I’ll go get my pillow.” 
“Ok, doll, here you go. Here’s your sleeping bag. Let’s get in your sleeping bag.”
Snort. Sniff. Sniff. Shuffle. Shuffle. Zip. Shuffle. Sniff. Snort.
“Get off me! Stop, I said get off me!” 
“But this is my space. I was here first!”

Here I am sitting quietly in my office. Reading. Praying. Contemplating. 
The sun has not quite peaked it’s head over the horizon. 
It’s still. It’s peaceful. It’s quiet. 

Then…the kids. 

They invade the quiet like…well, I’m not quite sure. They don’t storm in. They sofly enter the room with sleepy faces. They aren’t loud, they are just constant. Moving. Shuffling. Snorting. Sneezing. Shuffling some more. Then the energy starts to build. Their snorting sounds become words and before you know it, their words become arguments. 

“Go in the other room,” I say to them in my kindest, yet frustrated voice. They have an entire house. They have their own rooms. Yet, here they are, crawling around my legs, laying on the couch, refusing to leave. Could they do what they’re doing in the other room? Absoltuley! Do they need me around to simply lay on the couch snorting or playing with their doll? No way. They’re not even engaging me, yet they stay. They continue taking ove rthe room and the space, making it their own. Why? Because I’m here. It’s where their dad is. Even in my grumpiness and frustration, which I know they can hear in my voice when I ask them to go to the other room, they still stay. They disregard my grumpiness and keep doing what they’re doing…in my presence. 

They simply want to be where I am. 

Oh, to have a heart like my children. To long to for the attachment to my Father. To just want to be in HIs presence, to be in the same room, no matter what I’m doing. Just like my children just being in the room with me, being in the presence of my Father fosters a sense of safety, a sense that I’m where I belong. I’m in the right room simply because it’s the room He’s in. 

“For a day in your courts is better than a thousand elswhere. I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God than dwell in the tents of wickedness.”

Unlike my frustrated and grumpy heart towards my children, the Father’s heart toward me is one of constant delight. His heart is one of love and patience, desiring to be in the same room as me, even in my annoyance. He doesn’t mind me invading His space. In fact, He welcomes it. I am continually invited into His presence, because He knows that’s where my joy is fulfilled. 

“For the Lord takes pleasure in HIs people, He adorns the humble with salvation.” – Psalm 149:4

Oh, just to be with the Father.