Heavenly Father watches

                            out for us 

 

              I am often on the lookout for special life experiences /  

              stories that speak to me of my Heavenly Father’s love ,

                  as portrayed in earthly fathers , mothers  etc ..

                                      here is one of them 

 

I watched a little guy today 

Walk back across the sand 

A coloured tub of water

Carried carefully in his hands 

 

I waited there to watch the scene as it was played…

 

Every now and then he’d stop

The precious water for the moat

He didn’t want to spill a drop

Meant for the most amazing fortress in the land

 

The castle near the dunes that he and dad had made ….

 

Small measured, faltering footsteps 

Walking tightrope painstakingly across the beach

He stepped towards the shore 

A concentrated effort there to reach

 

It seemed like miles , his jangling nerves were frayed…..

 

And then he tripped and spilt some of the water 

 

He picked himself and bucket up

Inspection made, he realised

That more than half had gone 

His bottom lip now quivering 

As tears came in his eyes

 

It was so hard for me to watch, but at a distance I must stay

 

For out the corner of my eye

I saw someone coming 

The little boy could see him too

His dad had witnessed everything

And he was running

​

On reaching him he took his hand, turned back towards the sea

And said ‘come , son, walk with me’

 

An action, an encounter that couldn’t fail to make my day 

 

Some people see God as a nasty distant finger pointing judge

Who cannot wait to punish us for what we have or haven’t done

But for me and many of my friends we know Him as a Father

The kind that watches out for us 

And runs to meet us as a child , to treat us as a son or daughter

 

Two things I saw and maybe more , in this oft played –out scene

 

The father knows the water will not be

Enough to fill the moat 

As soon as it is poured 

It will sink and be soaked up

But he did not appraise the child

Of this futility

When you are young and very small

You do not know the things that grown-ups see

And life is an adventure 

 

Jesus said :

Become as a little child and

I have  come to give you life abundantly

 

And then :

 

The father let his son set out 

But all the while He watched him

In readiness to run and help 

To place his arms around him

To speak words of comfort and encouragement 

And walk the walk he walked 

 

Jesus said to His friends “ I will never leave you …. “

“ I will always be with you “

 

And does that mean it won’t be tough

The seas be calm and never rough 

NO

It means He’s with us in it all 

However big , however small 

​

john nuttall  May 2018