When I became a Father back in 1987 I was so excited! And ignorant! I had a nice but not so close relationship with my Dad back then and I knew I wanted more with my kids. I loved being a Dad, having responsibility, enjoying and watching my daughter develop and change daily, weekly, monthly.... When my second daughter came in 1989 I was afraid there was not going to be enough love in my heart to go out to her since I loved my first daughter so much. Of course love became exponential so not to worry! I loved every part of being a Dad of 2 girls, teaching them so many things and enjoying them. All of our tag team wrestling matches on the basement carpet, giving them "dreamers" at night to go to sleep to, and the many inventful and creative things we did then that showed them how much I delighted in them. As they got older I did my best to teach them responsibility and interdependence! Today they are 21 and almost 20, doing great in college and being so responsible! When they were young they had to ask for things because they were not always capable nor did they have the resources. They didn't build their relationship with me simply asking for things all of the time, they also enjoyed having a Dad and Mom who played with them, read them stories, took them on trips and all the things parents and children do to delight in each other.
In Psalm 37:4 we are told to "delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." Too often I find I am asking "Daddy" for things much more than I am delighting in Him and that is a terrible way to form and maintain a healthy relationship. If all my kids ever did was ask, ask, ask and ask some more I don't think our relationship would be very good. I need to get back to truly delighting in being a Dad and they being my daughters, and I need to really get back to truly delighting in God. I do not want to base my realtionship and conversations with Him around always asking, pleading, praying.
When I was in college and new to the faith I remember a girl at school (Annie) who used to open her prayers something like this... " Dearest Abba, Papa Daddy". It was so informal, and sounded very much like she was intimate with and delighting in her relationship with God. It was new to me but I wanted that for myself. May I, and may we learn to delight in God and not spend so much of our relationship always asking, pleading and praying to Him about the desires of our hearts, instead may our relationship with Him become the deepest desire of our hearts!
