Parenting: There-ness

The Paradox Church is putting on a Parenting Seminar, May 11th, from 9:30a-11:30 at City Life Center (next to Buon Girno) in Downtown Fort Worth. Go to The City for details and to RSVP.When I walk through the black front door of our cottage-style home, I am certain of what the next few moments will look like. As soon as my oldest daughter sees me, (and, yes, sometimes I stall at the door or make a loud noise to get her attention) she comes running towards me giggling and smiling, curly-hair curls bouncing, ready for daddy to scoop her up. It is a homecoming to trump all homecomings.There-nessI am convinced that one of a father's greatest gifts to his children is his "there-ness.” Your quantifiable there-ness is your canon as a father -- a measuring rod -- the ruler that determines the exactness of your fathering. You may know nothing about parenting, but if you are present you have run ahead of the curve, and good stuff can happen.Consider the times you have felt closest to your Heavenly Father, those times the Holy Spirit graciously opened up your mind and heart to the reality of the Father's presence. Perhaps it was through fervent prayer in difficult times; maybe through corporate worship; maybe through the preaching of the Word. How was it? Did you feel safe? secure? approved of in Christ? affirmed by the Father of fathers?Did God give you anything in those times? Was He blessing you with something in creation or answering a prayer? No, He was there. The Father’s there-ness made everything else fade out, out of focus, inconsequential. Like being unaware of the stresses of work as you stand on a shore overlooking the vastness of the glory of the ocean; or the terrifying combination of awe and fear as you stand before the Grand Canyon, all else a mere blip on a screen as an orchestra of peace flooded you from all sides. It's His there-ness we desire.Wanting The Father’s PresenceYour deepest desire is the Father's presence. How else do you explain your sacrifice or the pouring out of your time, energy, and money, bleeding out for shadows of the Father's presence? Let me explain.Your pursuit of beauty transfigures to lust with your bent heart. But that deep desire for beauty is a godly desire - permit me to even use a feminine term - a yearning for true beauty. What you want is to be in the presence of true beauty and perfection. For, what is beauty but the eye’s search for perfection? (And what is pornography but the sinful heart's search for the perfect woman – this one’s eyes, that one's hair, the other’s figure.) Created beauty flows from the Creator's perfection, you ultimately desire the beauty of His presence.Your pursuit of affirmation, fame, acceptance and all their cousins is a deep desire to be in the presence of the Father. It is a deep longing in your heart to even be allowed in the presence of your Father, to approach boldly the throne of grace, and to be received as a son of God. Isn't it? Why else do you pursue success? For your glory, that is certain, but you also do it for acknowledgment, applause, and that sense of approval -- "I'm proud of you" would bring many men to tears.Ecclesiastes 3:11 says that God put eternity in to the heart of man. We search and search; lust and lust; we are pursuing affirmation, fame, and acceptance. We run hard after the shadows, our feet stomping loud enough to deafen the echoes of a heart that is still unfulfilled, a soul not satisfied with shadows, but only with Substance. Chasms pervade the souls of men echoing their heart’s demand for the Eternal to fill it -- for the Omni Present to abide. And abide He does for His children; for, that is His gift to us -- Himself. The presence of all that we desire is ultimately found in Him.So how do we image the Father to our children? With our there-ness. What security, what protection, what joy our children find in our presence! As our joy is complete when we abide in Him, (John 15:9-11) so do they sense the Father's love in us -- perfected more and more in their joy with every hug-filled, playful, pile-driving minute.*This is an excerpt from a new e-book coming soon from Pastor Jim for parents