DADDY'S HOUSE

“Is that a Hudson River painting?” I look up at a large, framed landscape hanging in George Washington’s Mount Vernon home last week. Hudson River paintings, with their depiction of eastern America at a time when the country was just born, all fresh and new, with virgin forests and untouched streams, had always spoken to me.

“Yes, it is,” the guide smiled.

“Amazing,” I whispered. I marveled at the connection I felt to our first president through his choice of art and my sense of being home, in Daddy’s house, the father of our country.

As we move through the splashes of Fall color in the October meadows and woods all around us, let us never forget that we are walking through “Daddy’s house” - the creation of God and the kingdom of God. Jesus said, the Kingdom of God is at hand. It is on our right and our left and surrounding our every step. Yet, we live as though we were in a foreign country, where nothing makes sense and all seems unfamiliar. That’s because we are looking for the kingdom we have built, the lands we have acquired, the things we have stockpiled. The kingdom of God is His domain, where the gold we have gathered is in the precious souls of all those we touch for His sake. The only type of collecting that has value is “people gathering” - new residents for the Kingdom of God, finally finding a home in Daddy’s house. Let us pray:

“Holy Father, how easily we call on that name with no awareness that you are truly Abba, Daddy. Forgive our blindness, our arrogant independence that says, “Old man, we don’t need you anymore.” Yet, in spite of our rebellious nature, our narcissistic self-love, you call us from the winds of life that blow old character flaws away and breathe new life into each heart. Blow a little harder this day, oh Father. Blow in like a mighty wind and touch your people once again. We are a proud, independent people. But, our pride has falsely convinced us that independence means a turning from you rather than the truth of independence as a turning from man’s lies. To depend on you is wisdom. To climb up, like a child, on the lap of God, is to finally know who and whose we are. We are truly your children and we can only find our home at last, in our Daddy’s house. Thank you for opening your arms each new day. Praise be to you, God the father, through the life and blood of your son, our brother and savior, Jesus, the Christ. Amen.”
Doris
Copyright 2010 Doris Gaines Rapp, Ph.D.
“God gives us stories that testify to His love. Let me tell you mine.”