The Perfect Parent...

At church yesterday I watched an exchange between a father and a daughter that brought me to tears...and I don't think I was alone in that.

We go to a relatively small church, and every week people rotate through and help with the worship and other things. This little girl (probably 4 years old?) always sits in the back of the service with her dad. On Sunday he was playing the bass guitar for the service, so he left her with another family while he went up front. She was fine at first, but all of the sudden she caught a glimpse of her daddy and realized he wasn't sitting with her. Poor little thing just started bawling! The dad's friend who was looking after her scooped her up and inched forward toward the stage, assuming that if she could see that he wasn't all that far away she would stop crying. It didn't help.

She needed her daddy.

Her dad saw her standing next to the stage, crying and reaching for him and without even another thought he stopped playing the guitar, let her sit on top of the speaker, and crouched down so she could wrap her arms around his neck while he tried continuing to play in the band.

She was clearly his first priority.

I'm tearing up even now just thinking about how our Heavenly Father is just like that! He loves us first. He loves us most. He gave up EVERYTHING to meet our need.

After the end of that song, she was calmed down enough that the Children's Director was able to scoop her up and take her back to her seat.

She just needed to know that her dad was there for her, and once she did, her heart calmed down and she was just fine through the rest of the service.

Thank you, Jesus, for laying down everything just to demonstrate your love for us.

Thank you for loving us first.