my Father

"Doesn't it take your breath away for a moment to hear God say, 'I love you'? To which we, in our sinfulness, must certainly respond, 'why?' And then to hear him answer, 'Because you're my child.' To which we ask the obvious question, 'Why would I, a hopeless sinner, now be called your cherished child?' Only to hear him say, 'Because I wanted you, and I came to get you so that you might know me as Father.'"
--David Platt

I read this paragraph in Follow Me by David Platt and it really caught me off guard, because I've wondered why....why God still pursued me after I had run the opposite direction, and that's why. And the how is because he is a merciful, grace-giving God. So then I wrote this poem last night on my phone when I should've been getting that precious sleep (daylight savings anyone?).

We are children

and when we fall

our Father in heaven is

right there to help us back up.

But sometimes we need to fall

so that when the Father pulls us up

by the hand, we will heave learned

that we cannot rely on our

wandering feet.

The Father we have in heaven

created the universe and breathed

life into our very souls and showed

us what love is by sending his own

Son Jesus Christ to die for us

 so that we may 

be called sons of God.

And as a Father, he s going to

hold us when we need a hug

carry us when we can't lift our feet

lead us when we know not the right way

lift us up and wipe the dirt off

of our jeans when we fall too hard

and he's going to love us when

we can't love ourselves and

because he loves us more than we

can ever fathom, he will never 

leave us nor forsake us and when

we leave him and wander astray,

he will come running after us.

Unlike some fathers he will chase

after us until we turn around and

when we turn around we'll fall

into his arms, broken and Father God will

hold us until we're okay again

and he will carry us through the pain

and he'll make us better at the

broken places

and he will forget that we ever left

even when we can't begin

to understand why the Father still loves us

and cares for us so much,

He will still say,

"It's because you are my child

and I love you."