Forgotten God-Episode 6

“When Jesus was on earth, He said to His disciples, “If you then, who are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will the heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!” (Luke 11:13). God is a good Father who wants to give good gifts to His children. Sometimes I forget this truth and beg as though He needs convincing. It’s as ridiculous as if my kids thought they needed to beg me to hug them. It delights my heart to hug them.”  (Chan 48).

My favorite time of year is Christmas. There’s something about drinking hot chocolate, warm soup and being around your family that makes me wish I could just hit “pause” and stay there for awhile. While I enjoy living in Central Florida, there is something about being home in the mid-west and having your nostrils freeze as you run to the comfort of a vehicle that has been running with the heat on high for 15 minutes that makes it a special time of year.

My wife has shared with me that one of her favorite memories of Christmas is how excited her parents would get to open presents. She talked about how a couple of times she would woke up by her parents because they couldn’t take the anticipation anymore. They were so excited to see the reaction of my wife and sister-in-law when they saw what Santa had brought them.

I feel like here in the book Francis is saying something similar. God gets joy out of giving us things. He doesn’t have a naughty or nice list that he checks, let alone checking twice. He wants to give us the desires of our hearts and is waiting for us to just ask Him. I remind the students I work with as much as I possibly can that God loves them for who they are. That we don’t have to try to impress God or earn His approval.