Being Fathered by GodSample

Show and Tell

If God is in all the moments of our lives, and if he is good and up to good in all those moments, then it more than stands to reason that each man should be able to show and tell what good gifts the Father has been giving.

Trusting that the heart of the Father is good is foundational to seeing and experiencing his ways, because not all the gifts he gives are shiny or pretty or opened at a party. Most of them come to us on our climb and along our journey of seeking after him. In the midst of the battle for Life and love, he leaves good gifts all along the way. But if a man misinterprets the Father’s heart and the Father’s ways, then, guaranteed, he will misinterpret the Father’s gifts and training.

When I was thirteen, we moved from the West Coast back to Oklahoma. Eighth grade is a tough time to move. That spring I was one of about forty boys who tried out for a select baseball team needing a couple of kids to fill their roster. Every kid got to bat once, take a few grounders, and try to catch whatever ball got hit to him in the outfield. I never knew if I made that team, because a few days later my dad announced that another team was being formed and he was coaching. The first day we got together, most of the boys looked familiar. They had been at the tryout the weekend before! I remember playing the other team and wishing I was on it.

Not until twenty years later, when I was in my thirties, did I learn the truth: we all had been cut, and my dad had gone to the league organizers and talked them into letting him start a new team. Someone was watching over me and that someone was better than I thought.

In your time alone with God:

How do you see the Father at work in your life, counseling you, guiding your steps, and teaching you how to do and not to do things?

When was the last time you made a major discovery about who you are and who he is, about how to love others and how to let him love you?

What do you have to show and tell?

What good gifts has your Father given you? Or are they piled up, sitting there and just waiting to be seen and unwrapped?