Let Them Catch You

     During my morning prayer time, I often receive an image of water.  Sometimes it is a lazy river, sometimes a bubbling brook, sometimes a creek with a fast-moving current, sometimes a stream with eddies swirling round and round within. They are always versions of His grace into which He invites me:  sometimes to rest, sometimes to see the beauty of His creation, sometimes to be carried without burdens through various responsibilities.  But recently He encouraged me to just jump in and splash around, to play with abandon as a little child would, to laugh and giggle and toss the water into the air, to feel the soft sun upon my back and twirl around in delight.

     As often happens, I picture my own grown children, when they were small, and how much fun they had playing in water...whether the ocean, a pool, or a puddle. One of their favorite activities was to find a stream which ran from the woods or other source into a lake or into the ocean. They would play for hours tromping about in it, building a dam, or floating leaves or sticks downstream.  Whenever we came upon a bridge over a river or stream, we would stop and gather just the right stick or other floating object for Pooh Sticks.

     Participating with them was fun, but my true enjoyment came from watching theirs. God tells me He feels the same way, only to a greater degree, of course. He enjoys watching His children play. He experiences great satisfaction when we splash, float, or swirl in the Water of His grace.  Sometimes the eddies, where we don't seem to be advancing quickly enough toward the solutions to our problems, cause us to finally look up and see the sunlight dappling the branches overhead, hear the sounds of His little creatures calling from the banks, or feel the soft air caressing our skin. We see, if we look even higher, His loving countenance smiling down upon us.

     "Surely goodness and mercy and unfailing love shall follow me all the days of my life,  and I shall dwell forever [throughout all my days] n the house and in the presence of the Lord" [Psalm 23: 6]
The question is, "Will we let them catch up with us?"