Just Like My Daddy

I could feel the little eyes watching me. I slowly glanced up to catch Gabe, my six year old peering around the corner. He was trying to be incognito, so I didn’t blow his cover. It must have been 15 minutes later when he came in the room with a radiant smile on his face. I noticed that he looked vaguely like me…sort of.

I was wearing black running shorts. He was wearing black running pants that were rolled up so many times it looked like the circulation was being cut off to his lower extremities. My shirt was yellow; his shirt was “yellowish” turned inside-out, in order to hide the Spongebob logo. He had pulled out tennis shoes that are not usually worn, in an effort to match mine. He had even worked on his hair to look like me as well, although he didn’t pull out 40% of his follicles, but I appreciated his effort.

I was moved. I was flattered. I was honored. He tried. He wasn’t perfect in his attempt to look like his dad, but it meant the world to me that he tried. He loves me.

I suppose I could have humiliated him and made him feel stupid. “Gabe, you look ridiculous. Don’t you know the difference in between shorts and pants? That shirt is not even close to the same color. If you can’t look exactly like me, you shouldn’t even try.” Talk about crushing a child’s spirit.

Instead, I got down on my knees and hugged him and smiled. We looked at the similarities in our appearances, and praised him for his creativity. I then gave him the o.k. to roll his pants down, saving him from impending amputation.

God looks down at us and smiles. He gets on His knees and hugs us and smiles…even giggles. I believe He delights in pointing out our similarities. He likes encouraging us in what we’re doing right. The Lord is not in the business of crushing His children’s spirits.
I believe the He delights in his children…even when we don’t get it completely right. He realized that we wouldn’t always get it right.

Enter Jesus…The Great Equalizer. This is the picture of grace…He loves us anyway. It’s God’s grace that takes care of the off-yellow shirt, or the differences in the length of our pants. What an amazing plan our Father has for us!

Today, I enter my closet with the intention of looking as much like my Father as I can. I will do my best today to clothe myself with Christ, knowing that His grace will take care of me when I don’t get it right.