Greg's Fishing Hole

Just recently we took a trip back to Missouri. I only stayed two full days; my wife and kids stayed two full weeks. This made me miss them tremendously. (They missed me too, I hope.) While they were gone, I got a lot done—things that I could not do with them in the house, such as music recording, etc. Keeping busy was the way to make time fly by. There was less clutter in the house, but still more dishes in the sink. There was less chaos, but far too much quiet in the house. I began to miss the little things that annoyed me before, the boys crying in the morning and spilling milk on the floor. What I don’t miss now that they are back is the TV dinners! They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and that is true in some essence. However, we must appreciate the times we are together and not squander them. I for one don’t want them to go away like that again, at least not for a good long while.

The spiritual parallel should be obvious. We have a relationship with God. God has chosen to be in a relationship with us. He desires us to be close to Him, for that is what is best. Our absence from Him does not makes our hearts grow fonder necessarily. It does sadden God, I think. He can do without us, sure, but He longs for us to be near for our sake. We can be very busy, accomplishing many things and still miss out on the blessing of intimacy with God. I think that sometimes we really annoy God with our attitudes, but when we distance ourselves from Him, He misses seeing our growth and development. By ourselves we are not going to receive the full blessings of a relationship! Moving away from God in any given situation is going to be a painful process, even if we are in denial, saying, “I’m doing just fine, thank you.”
James 4:8, says, “Come near to God and he will come near to you. (NVI)” The Message paraphrases it like this: “Say a quiet yes to God and he'll be there in no time.” God desires a closeness. And yet, He is a gentleman. He will not force Himself on you. We must take full advantage of the opportunity before us. Even if you have walked a thousand miles away from God, He is always as close as one step from you. In the case of me missing my family, one long day of flying and the reunion is sweet. With God, He doesn’t need an airplane; He just needs a willing heart.

posted by Gregory Fish @ 10:25 AM