When God Smiles
Not too long ago I attended a piano recital of a friend’s daughter. I wanted to go hear her play, but I never would have imagined the joy it brought me to see all of the kids from ages 5-17 or so playing their selections for their families. It brought back lots of memories of my childhood and all of the piano recitals in which I had participated. As I sat there listening, to my mind came the memories of good performances, not-so-good performances and the many hours of practice beforehand. In addition to the memories, though, I was really moved by how much enjoyment the parents got out of watching their kids. These performances weren’t perfect, but I believe that in the eyes of moms, dads, aunts, uncles, and even friends like me, they were priceless – priceless displays of effort for their entire “world” to see.
Do you think that God enjoys watching His little children do things for Him? Do you think He smiles as He watches us take one wobbly baby step at a time down this road of life with all our might? I bet He does, while all the while thinking to Himself “Come on, my child, you can make it!”.
I love thinking about my relationship with God in this way. My dad still says that I am his little girl. Do you realize that you are God’s “little girl”? When we accept His Son, Jesus, we are adopted into His family forever (Ro 8:15). He loves us so much because after all, He chose us (John 15:16) and being the perfect Father that He is, He wants to do things for us (Mt. 7:11).
What are you not doing in your life for God because you are afraid of making a mistake? If you find yourself here, I assure you that you are not alone. I think that sometimes all of us are like that little child who when on stage forgets her place, finds her fingers not working as she had planned, and wishes secretly for the experience to be over.
Friends, our heavenly Father does not expect perfection from us, just that we do our best where we are with what we have. Remember that “the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Sam 16:7 NKJV). When we take that step forward, He will be there right beside us, ready to take our small hand in His…smiling.
Janna, thank you for this writing. I enjoyed reading it so much and couldn’t help but think how glad I am that God looks on the inward person and not the outer person.
Have a blessed day.
Janna,
Just beautiful… I needed to read this right now. What a great relief our Lord looks at the heart. I mess up so often. This is a balm to my soul. Love you.
PS. I play the piano too. 🙂
Janna—-I LOVE being His daughter! What a wonderful post! Bless you for sharing it!
If only we knew how much our Papa loved us…
AND LIVED THAT WAY..
Thank you
Amen to that Janna. You know, even though I am not perfect – I wobble a lot, but I know that He keeps me steady to reach the goal.
Thank you so much for sharing.
Blessings to you and yours.