"Someday I'll miss this..."

Someday I'll miss the middle of the night cries that require cuddles.  I'll miss when he snuggles his head on my chest and sucks his fingers to soothe himself.  I'll miss all the cuddles and helping him soothe himself to sleep something fierce in the future.

That's one of my favorite parts of being a dad, simply putting my boy down for sleep be it a nap or for the night.  It's always such an intimate moment where I take great joy in him, I delight in him.  And then I contemplate in wonder at the thought that our Father God looks at me the same way.  He's crazy about me just like I am about my son, only infinitely more so.

I've never viewed God like that.  I've always known intellectually that He loves me.  I've read the Bible a few times and get that on my own as well as from other people preaching or encouraging me.  It's different after I became a dad myself though.  Now I understand it on a much deeper level.  Please don't misunderstand me here.  I'm not saying at all that single men can't understand what it's like until they become a father.  That's patronizing nonsense and I used to hate that garbage.  What I am saying is simply that's it's changed my personal perspective on God as Father and how He views me as His adopted son.  

He chose me.  I've always struggled with feelings of self-worth but then I'm reminded that the Creator of the universe chose me as His own child.  Do you know what that means?  It means I'm worthy simply because He calls me worthy and has chosen me to be worthy.  Jesus died for my sins and to reconcile me to the Father God.  I am hidden in Christ.  Many sermons I've heard seem to bypass this fact and just focus on how unworthy we are to receive the gift of salvation, which is also true.  However we should never forget that He makes us worthy, that's part of salvation.  So while we don't deserve anything from Him He makes us worthy.

This leaves no room for feeling unworthy or bad about ourselves.  We've screwed up before and surely will in the future as well as the present but that doesn't take away from our self-worth.  Maybe self-worth isn't the right description.  Our worth that is bound up in our identity in Him.  I've reminded people a lot through the years that our only true identity can be found in Christ.  I remind people of this often partly because I need to remind myself of it almost on a continual basis.

He has called us to Himself and made us His own.  How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God?  That's in the book of 1st John I believe, perhaps chapter 3.  Let's revel in that fact.  Let's lay our heads on our Father's chest as He listens to our worries and problems and rocks us to sleep and rest in His great love.  Who's with me?