I’d always thought it was because my kids liked me and they liked me holding them. They would reach out their little arms toward me and want to be in my big, strong arms. When they got hurt, when they were tired, when they were scared, or when they wanted to see something they couldn't reach. Turns out to be purely selfish. It wasn’t about me, it was about THEM!
I tripped over this insight a years
ago when my youngest son, Chadd, was standing in the kitchen pointing at
something on the kitchen counter to the left of the sink. Being a toddler he couldn’t communicate
clearly so we played “the guessing game.”
You know the one… he points, grunts and I make guesses as to what he is
looking at and what he wants me to do with it.
(And we parents think we are in charge.)
A similar game is played when the toddlers become teenagers. It's called, "How could you be so
stupid?" This game is played when the
parent asks a question, the teenager looks at the parent, rolls his eyes,
sighs, and in other ways non-verbally communicates to the parent, "How
could you be so stupid?"
Back to Chadd… I picked up item after item asking, “Is this
what you want?” To which he would pull
the pacifier from his mouth and say, “No.”
He kept pointing, I kept guessing, he kept saying “No” and I got
frustrated.
In desperation I knelt down beside
him, sighted up his arm and looked. It
was instantly clear. I stayed on my
knees a while and looked around at his world.
It was enlightening. Do you
realize that toddlers live in a world of kneecaps? Big kneecaps, small kneecaps, kneecaps in
hose, naked kneecaps, invisible kneecaps covered by jeans. Our world is built for humans at least five
feet tall. Everything looks different
from the angle of someone two feet tall.
EVERYTHING. The floor is close but
all the good stuff is far away. Feet are
constantly swinging toward you. Shopping
carts look like bulldozers. You can't
reach anything beyond the second shelf. And
if you take a risk and climb on the kitchen table the big people yell at
you. It is daunting, dangerous and disconcerting. THAT is why my kids wanted me to hold them –
so they could see life better and be protected from the kneecaps. They felt
safe when they were in my arms. And when
a parade comes by the best seat on the street is on dad's shoulders, using his
ears as handles.
The way life looks is determined by
your angle.
Life appears a lot like Chadd's
world to us human types much of the time.
We just don't realize it. We see things we need or want up on the counter
of life, but we can't reach them.
Problems threaten to kick us in the teeth. When we take a risk people yell at us. We get scared, hurt, frustrated, tired, as
life looks overwhelming. That's
reality. The good news is that we have
the same option Chadd chose – we can reach our arms up toward our Dad and He'll
hold us, help us get what we need, protect us, and reassure us.
But best of all, when we're in God's
arms we can view life from where He sits.
Only then can we see it as it really is. The world was built by our heavenly Dad and
only from where He sits does it make sense.
YOUR life was specifically designed for you, but only as you
see it from where God sits does it make sense.
Sitting on His shoulders is the best seat on the street.
The way life looks depends a lot on
where you’re sitting. Ask God to pick you up to give you at least a glimpse of
what your life looks like from where He sits.
"For my thoughts are
not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your
ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)
"Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3 (NIV)
Boldly,
Herb
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