Watching a little boy’s efforts to garner attention while doing cartwheels reminds Shawnelle Eliasen how we often want God to notice us:
It was Vacation Bible School week at our church and my 13-year-old son Samuel and I were working with the preschoolers. We’d helped with a lesson and a craft and then shared a snack. Now it was time for wide-open space and fresh air.
“Hey, Mr. Sam! Look at me!” called one of our small students.
“I’m watching,” called Sam.
The little guy bolted across the thick grass, hopped high, landed on his hands and did something that in a few years might resemble a cartwheel or a donkey kick.
When he stood up, his smile was as wide as the sky.
READ MORE: PATHS TO FULFILLMENT–CONFIDENCE
“Way to go,” called Samuel.
The tiny tumbler walked over to where Samuel and I sat on the ground. “Keep watching Mr. Sam,” he said. “I’m going to do it again.”
And he was off. Flip. Kick. Stand. Grin. “Hey, that was a good one! Mr. Sam, did you see?”
Samuel cheered for the little guy and offered double-handed high-fives. I was charmed by the scene.
There’s a deep human need to be noticed. Affirmed. Encouraged. Loved.
I’ve felt it. I see it in the world around me. And isn’t it a precious thing that the Lord, our Father in heaven, recognizes this need and meets us with unending, unchanging, unblemished love?
The LORD your God is in your midst,
A mighty One who will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness;
He will quiet you by his love;
He will exult over you with loud singing. (Zephaniah 3:17)
It’s precious to think about. The Lord is near. He’s close. Like Sam sitting in the grass cheering for that little boy. And God is rejoicing over us with a song of gladness. A loud song! A parent’s song of love and undiluted delight.
But the most dear part, I believe, is that He’ll quiet us.
His love will hush our wants and needs and cries and desires. His offering is filling and consuming. It flows into places of the spirit that only His tender love can reach.
