At three-and-a-half years old, Jessica is such a little person. I mean, she is absolutely full of personality (which, fortunately, is usually delightful). She loves to smile, and when she laughs, her laughter makes others want to join in with her. Yesterday, as she escaped giggling from my tickling clutches and darted a short distance away, I watched her go. And I thought, Wow, her legs look really long in those shorts. She looks…tall!
For a moment, instead of a toddler, I saw a little girl, and I realized she’s growing up.
I’m glad for her. I want her to develop as she should. But I hope that she doesn’t grow out of wanting to be with me for a long time.
Jessica has always been a mama’s girl. She loves being with me. Several times during the day, she will seek out my attention or ask me to play with her (“Will you pway wif me?”). Just this morning at church, she snuggled into my lap and closed her eyes.
I don’t want her to grow out of that anytime soon.
True, her clinginess gets burdensome sometimes. There are some days I’d rather she not need to be so close to me for most of the day. At times, I just wish she would leave me alone and play independently.
When it’s one of those times, and she’s needed more attention than I had energy or desire to give, I try to remind myself of this: God never gets tired of giving me attention.
Actually, I think God’s prepared to give me far more attention than I seek. He constantly loves me and continually thinks loving thoughts toward me. He’s never too busy or too tired for me to crawl up into His lap and close my eyes. He never gets annoyed when I want His attention because I’m bored or crabby, or simply because I want to be with Him. I’m the one who keeps our relationship at a distance.
Maybe you do, too. Maybe you know what it’s like to go through an entire day without thinking about God much, except when it’s time to thank Him for your food before eating lunch. But if that’s the only time you or I think about Him, we’re missing out.
You see, God is always available to listen to us, give us wisdom, or share happy moments with us. He’ll share the sad moments, too. He’ll even “play” and have fun with us. But we have to want to spend time with Him. Otherwise, we’re missing out on the best Friend in the whole universe. He’s right next to us—His Spirit is in us—and we ignore Him.
If you’re like me, you struggle to spend regular and consistent time with Him. But maybe it would help to remember that spending time with Him means not just checking off something on a chart, but staying in touch with our Best Friend. Imagine the best earthly friend you can think of, multiply it by about a billion, and that’s Him waiting for you to notice Him.
So why don’t we spend more time with Him? Sometimes, it’s because circumstances arise to prevent it. Other times, it’s because we don’t try very hard. But I believe that it’s usually because we don’t really appreciate what a great time we could have by spending time together.
Why not let God show you? Spend time with Him this week. Today, even. Ask Him to open your eyes to what a great Friend He is. Ask Him to help you get to know Him. Even if you’ve known Him most of your life, you can always know Him better. Ask Him to show you His beauty and desirability. And when He does, be prepared for your heart to respond in adoration. It’ll happen naturally. When you truly get a glimpse of God as He is, the only possible response is worship.
Psalm 27:4—One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple.