The other day my daughter and I had one of those moments in which all a father can do is stop for a second or two and smile lovingly at his child. It was a very memorable moment for me and I will cherish it for many, many days to come.
The Backstory
Recently my wife has been spending some time trying to teach our daughter about money, Leyla calls it “monies” and the importance of saving it to purchase things down the road. She actually got the idea from a Curious George Episode. One day Traci, my wife, found a little sheep bank and she has been helping our Leyla find change around the house or after we’ve gone to the store.
Over the last few months they’ve collected quite a lot of change and Every time my daughter gets the opportunity to put some change it the bank she gets really excited. It’s pretty amazing, well so far, that may change as she gets older.
The Moment
So here’s what you’ve been waiting for, The Moment. Well, it happened the other day as I was getting ready to come back to work after a few days off. As I finished getting ready I share with her that I had to go back to work now and she kept asking, Why ‘addy? I attempted to explain to her that I go to work so that we can earn “monies” to buy thing for the house like food, clothes, and her little TV, it’s really a kindle that she watches Netflix on. As I explained to her why I went to work she ran into the closet.
After a few moments she came back out, pulled me off the bed and into the closet, and pointed up. At first I didn’t know what she was pointing to, but as I went back to tie my other shoe, she ran up to me saying…
‘addy, addy, Its’ o’a, oo can use I “monies” so oo can ‘ay ‘ome ‘ith us, ‘eee’ ‘ay
Meaning…
Daddy, Daddy, It’s Okay, you can use my money so you can stay home with us. Please stay.
It was one of those moments all I could honestly do is stop and smile lovingly at her and reply with. No Baby, you can keep your ‘monies’ you and mamma worked really hard to save them up.
She them gave me a big hug and skipped off into the living area. The rest of the day, all I could think about was how precious that little moment was with our amazing little daughter.
The Message
As I thought about this I began to think about what moments like this could mean in the spiritual since. The thoughts that began to come to mind were those of how God might react when we do similar things in our walk of faith. I felt as though I might have been given just a little glimpse of how He reacts to those moments when we, as believers, choose to go that extra mile to show Him how much we are about what he has done for us.
The Joy and Love I felt, and still feel, for my daughter in that moment is only a fraction of what He feels for us when we make it a point to show our love to those around us. I can’t imagine what God feels when he sees one of us come to Him for the first time or when one of His children offer something he’s given us back to Him. God’s love and the Love of a Father are two very special things. I don’t mean to compare the two but from a human perspective it may be the closest thing we have that even remotely models HIS love for His children.
I don’t want this post to turn into something it’s not but, there is a pretty amazing message for fathers, and mothers for that matter, that we can resonate with. Today I would challenge who ever reads this to take a moment or two to think about those moments we have with our children or with others that are close to us and simply stop, smile lovingly at the memory or the moment and give God the glory because we can experience moments such as these.
Blessings in Christ,
