I love having a busy home. We have four kids of our own and get to live in a neighborhood with many, many more. There are kids in and out of my door all of the time. It’s lots of fun, and I love it! I especially love spend-the-nights! Movies, pallets, flashlight tag, night swimming, pizza, and special breakfasts! Fun, fun, fun! However, with all of this activity, there’s bound to be an issue or two.
Since my kids range in age from 10 down to 5, the 5 year old doesn’t know that he’s only 5. He wants to actively participate in all of the “big kid” stuff, too - especially the spend-the-night ritual. So when it’s his turn to ask someone, I try to limit it to a friend that lives close to home. Of course, you know why. Most five year olds are not ready to spend the night away from home, and it’s much easier to walk them across the street than drive them around town late at night when they are ready to go.
The other night we had one of these experiences. My son, Ben, invited “John” over to spend the night. Both boys were so excited and couldn’t wait to enjoy their movie-watching, cookie-eating time together. Well, around 9 o’clock “John” decided he was ready to go. So he sneaked away and called his dad for rescue. No persuasion from the Killebrews could convince him that he was as safe and sound at our house as he would be at home. He just wanted his Daddy. By 10 o’clock “John” was out the door and back home with his mom and dad in his own home.
As I thought about “John” the next day, I wondered about my own heart. Why doesn’t my heart ache like “John’s” for my heavenly father? How peaceful, reassuring, encouraging, and comforting it is for me to be with the Lover of my Soul. It is where I belong, and yet I dare to go a day or more without spending time in the word, praising God’s name, and worshipping him? I was made to worship him. There is nothing that should take precedence over that.
I hope and pray that each year my heart will be drawn more and more to my heavenly Father’s, just like “John’s” was to his earthly father’s.
