The Father

I'm just starting to re-read "Your God is Too Small" by JB Phillips. (If you haven't read it I encourage you to read it and challenge your view of God). This book describes different ways people see God. It is a challenging book because God is a huge God and it is hard for us to fit Him in our finite minds. One of the views is about the analogy of God as our Father. Anyway, this lead me to look at my relationship with my dad and how that relates my view of God as my spiritual Father. I know that my dad is human and therefore, imperfect. I know that God is perfect. So in looking back at how my relationship with my dad has changed and grown throughout the years of my life, I can only see more and more how much he loves me. If my imperfect dad loves me so much, then how much more does my perfect heavenly Father love me. This is absolutely amazing to me because my dad loves me more than I can fathom....so it almost makes my brain explode trying to grasp how much God loves me.
Another thing I started think about while contemplating what this book said and my dad, was how my dad interacts with me. God says that we are to be like children. But He doesn't want us to be immature. My dad held me as a baby...I couldn't do anything for myself. Then he watched me grow and helped me along. I used to need him for so much. Now I need his wisdom and fatherly friendship. I don't think God wants us to stay babies....what kind of relationship would that be? He wants us to grow up so we can have conversations with Him! He wants us to love Him and want to be with Him. My dad and I can now sit on the patio around the chimenea (outdoor fire thing) and talk about whatever. Sometimes we are silent, my dad smoking his cigar and me sipping my tea just watching the fire blaze both knowing the we are together and that's good.
God wants to have a real relationship with us! I'm not positive, but I don't think my dad would want to go back to where I was 2 years old...I think he would miss what we have now. God wouldn't want me to stay a new Christian, He wants me to mature into a strong Christian who converses with Him and strives to learn more about Him. And even just be silent knowing that God is with me and that is good.