“Hear, Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. And you shall repeat them diligently to your sons and speak of them when you sit in your house, when you walk on the road, when you lie down, and when you get up.” (Deuteronomy 6:4-7 NASB)
Good morning! This is your Monday Short meditation.(Smile!) It’s short, but there is little bit of a story. (Smile again!)
The father has to go downtown to pick something up at an office building, located on an east/west street. He is all set to leave, and his seven-year-old son asks if he could go with him. The father’s initial answer was “No. Stay home and play.” The son persists, practically begs his father to take him with him. He really loved his dad and wanted some one-on-one time with him. Yes, even little children need some one-on-one time with their father. Parents, especially fathers, should cherish such an opportunity for they are charged with teaching their children.
The father finally gives in, and father and son jump into the car and head downtown. They find a parking space just one block away, west of the office building where the father had to pick up something. It was a short block and thus not a long walk. They enter the elevator and ride it up to the third floor. The father picks up the folder that he needed to complete a project over the weekend. They ride back down to the ground floor. The father is walking, checking out the content of the envelope as they head toward the revolving door. The son starts running towards the door. When the father looks up, the son was entering the revolving door. Before he could catch him, two individuals get to the door before him. The son thought he could find the car on his own based on the fact that he was not a baby, but he was seven years old. When the father gets out of the revolving door, he cannot see his son. There are too many grown-ups blocking his view. He assumes that his son went west, the right direction. But guess what? He was wrong. The son went east. When the son did not see the car after walking a longer block than the one that he walked with his dad to get to the building, he turned around. Almost at the same time, when the father had got to the parked car, he turned to go look for his son. However, suddenly, the father shook his head and said, maybe the son was hiding near the car, so he started walking back west. His back is turned to the east, and all of a sudden, he hears his son calling to him. The father hears him and answers him, and all is well.
The point of this short story is that sometimes in life, when we should be going the direction that our godly fathers brought us up from, we get confused by the figurative “revolving doors” of life and we have a mix-up and end up going voluntarily in the wrong direction. When that happens, we need to come to our senses and turn around, turn to the Father. When we do, we will be able to say, “All is well.” Read the closing verse and think about this as it applies to you. Next, forward this to at least one father you know who could benefit from this meditation in more than one way, including recognizing that they need to spend time with their children and, more importantly and urgently, they need to return to the Father! Have a great Monday. Be blessed!
“Therefore, tell the people: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Return to me,’ declares the Lord Almighty, ‘and I will return to you,’ says the Lord Almighty.” (Zechariah 1:3 NIV)
Committed to the climb,
Mark L. King