Dependable Daddy
By: Tammy Phillips
Late on summer days, after jumping rope and playing jacks, my sisters and I would wait for my dad to come home from work. At some point, we would look up and see a figure making its way down the street. When we realized who it was, we would run the length of the block, screaming, “Daddy, Daddy.” We would catch up to him, excitedly jump up and down and then walk with him to our house. After a few summers of this behavior, we stopped anticipating daddy’s arrival. We stopped running up the street. We stopped caring whether he showed up at all. We had gotten too old to be running up the street, screaming. And besides, Daddy was dependable. He always came home, made sure we had a house to live in, food to eat, clothes to wear. My mother told me years later how much it hurt daddy that we stopped enthusiastically escorting him home.
When our relationship with the Lord is young, we are excited, jumping up and down, at least on the inside, at His movements in our lives. We run excitedly to our Bibles, to our prayer times, to our churches and walk around with our Savior. God is dependable. He always takes care of us according to His riches in glory. But, sometimes, we get slack. Anticipation at what the Lord has to say to us diminishes. Our time with the Lord is no longer a priority. Then, we stop showing up all together. God, who desires a close relationship with us, is hurt when we neglect our time with Him.
We never again ran up our block to greet our dad after a long day at work. But, we did choose to run to spend time with him and help him when our mother died, his health failed and death eventually took him. We can choose every day to run to God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is willing and waiting to walk with us through our daily lives together.
Thanks for the walk down memory lane; I haven’t thought about our times running down the street to greet daddy in a very long time.
Some of the best and most profound things that happen in our lives are found on memory lane. They bring smiles to our faces. So glad the post brought you joy! 🙂
Hi. This is very true and I can remember when i first got saved that i was on fire and so excited to talk about our savior and Father. You couldn’t shut me up about it. My family would sometimies avoid me at times for fear that i would drown them in my elation and fervor for God’s word. As time went on and trials and stomrs come and go, that fire became small and i found myself feeling like he was far from me and that he wasn’t answering my prayers because of my diminishing fire. I am a true testiment of this fact, but am determined not to give up. To stay tuned in with Him and not allow the pressures of life and struggle pull me away from my time with Him. “aworkinprogress”
Amen! We all are a work in progress and we will be until the day of Jesus Christ. I believe that God uses trials and storms in our lives to mature us in our relationship with Him and to make us look more like His son.