|
December 23, 2001
Dear God, I count it a tremendous privilege to be able to express the thoughts of my mind & heart in the form of a letter to you. Despite the great accolades and promises of our present-day postal system to deliver its mail, I’m not fooling myself; this letter will never be delivered by Canada-Post!!! Nevertheless, I have assurance, beyond any doubt, that you will receive it.... delivered on spiritual wings to your throne-room in glory. In fact you know the contents right now, even before the ink is dry, because you know me and my every thought before it even reaches this paper. Knowing one who is so awesome, so powerful, so majestic; YET, so loving, so gentle, so compassionate and so kind..... has been my lifeline of encouragement and strength over the last number of weeks. What a privilege & comfort it is for me to call you, my friend.
My life-preserver as the waves have raged. My compass when my vison has been clouded. When I am fearful...... your Spirit brings a calming presence. When I am angry....... you speak soft words of containment. When I am discouraged......... you send one of the flock to comfort me. When I am lonely....... your presence reminds me I’m never alone. When I am sad....... you give me a small glimpse of the streets of glory. When I weep............ you help dry my tears with reminders of your promises. When I question.......... you listen and understand my troubled heart. When I cry out, “Why”........ you speak to my spirit and say “peace be still my son” When my heart aches.......... you soothe my pain by wrapping me in your arms of love. When I need forgiveness....... you once again accept my feeble confessions. O God, it is so comforting to know you personally. To read and hear your eternal promises..... and experience your abiding presence which delights my soul. You’re not a figment of my imagination. Not an illusion....you’re real. To know I can trust you with all of my doubts, fears and hurts. Lord, how do others, who don’t know you personally, like I do, make it through? I shutter to think of the abandonment and despair they must experience. Father, my mind swirls with questions about things I don’t understand. I know you don’t mind me calling you, Father. I have an earthly Father, his name is John, you know him very well.....I love my dad very much and I know he loves me. But you are my Heavenly Father and I love you too. My earthly dad would do anything for me, but I realize his love can never be compared on the same level as your love for me. Father.... I don’t understand why people are so messed up! Why does your beautiful creation groan under such violation and abuse? Why do people hate and kill each other? Why do people hurt each other with words or actions that scar deeply? Why do people run rough-shod over everything and everyone to get to the so-called top? Why do adults abuse little children? Why are streets filled with hungry families, and drug addicts and predators? Why do spouses who promise they’ll love each other until death spend most of their time together fighting and bickering? Why do families experience such brokenness?
Children abandoning parents...... Brothers and sisters filled with anger and rarely speaking to each other. Why are there people starving while our table groans under the weight of abundance? Why are there people cold when we can’t make up our mind what to wear? Why Father, do these things still exist? Why are young people, with so much promise and opportunity, allowed only a short time here on earth; while others are given many years, but so often those years are filled with great suffering and intense pain; or they are wasted away in frivolous behavior? It really doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me, Father! But then again, I’m not the master of the universe, am I? Your ways are far grandeur than mind. Your wisdom is so vast. Your greater scheme of things dwarfs anything I could possibly know or comprehend. I am neither the architect, nor the artist. But you are! But his one thing I do know, O God,.... you love me! It’s so good to know an almighty God loves little old me. But I must be careful to not abuse your love for me, because I know that our love relationship cost you dearly. You had to send your only son, Jesus. Born among animals in a smelly stable and bedded on straw....spiked to a rugged cross when he was 33, entombed in a cave for three days...but gloriously resurrected on Easter Sunday. Praise you God! It boggles my mind when I try to fathom this agape love. You allowed all that because you loved me! Wow! I must be of great worth in your sight God. Father, in two days we will once again celebrate the anniversary of the birth of your son, Jesus. Born in the little town of Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph, your chosen ones. I can’t imagine what it must have been like on that first Christmas Morning. Today we gather around brightly-lit; color-tinseled; color-coordinated-ornamented evergreens.... and rip open seemingly endless numbers of gifts wrapped in multi-colored paper and tied with bright ribbons and bows. Special gifts that have been chosen just for us by our family and friends..... with cards and notes spelling out seasons greetings, love and encouragement. It’s usually very early on Christmas morning when all this happens, usually it’s the sound of little feet running along the hallway and excited voices shouting , “It’s Christmas Morning! Santa was here!” that gets the older folks out of their quiet slumber. So strong, thick, black coffee is brewed and consumed in great quantities while chaos erupts under the tree. Soon the delectable smell of roasting turkey will be wafting throughout the house and the ancient recipe for the scrumptious plum pudding will be masterfully prepared under the watchful eye of grandma! Sometimes, if there is time, the family will all gather round and the Christmas story is read......but all too often we don’t get the opportunity.... the kids are too hyper...they’re lost under the mountain of paper or would rather play with their latest techno gizmo or just watch cartoons... While Mom, on the other hand, is consumed by diligently preparing the great festive feast... Amid the sounds of clanging and banging pots and pans. And dad, well dad, has escaped to the garage or workshop to test his latest tool-toys from Canadian Tire. Heavenly Father, on Christmas Morning you must really feel sad as your eyes scan the landscape of your creation and see your children behaving this way. Do you feel lonely when we leave you out like that?......... When we don’t even have time to read the story one more time or pray a simple prayer of thanksgiving? Are you disappointed that the birthday of your son has turned into a big party, where the number of gifts or the size of the turkey or whether the gravy is dark or light is of greater consequence than singing “Joy To The World, The Lord has Come? The real host is forgotten! What can I say father, I too am guilty of leaving you out of Christmas’ past. Forgive me! Forgive me for being selfish and thoughtless and taking your love for granted. Forgive me for savoring tasty delights more than the boy-child Jesus Forgive me for just mouthing “Joy to the World” while never fully knowing true joy. Forgive me for storing Jesus away with the rest of the decorations instead of having Him live with me every day. Father, this Christmas, no tree adorns our living room as in years past....there is no one to wake us from our slumber before the breaking dawn.... and many of the past familiar sounds that echoed throughout our home.... will only be memories...... instead of bright smiles and sounds of laugher amid the ripping and rustling paper.......there will probably be many tears ... BUT I want to say this to you Father, ....I want to say “thank-you” for your wonderful gift of a savior..... the gift of your son, Jesus Christ. He has radically changed my life. If He hadn’t come on that first Christmas I would never have known the unearthly peace and unexplainable love I now feel. I would never have sensed the belonging and forgiveness I now have. I’ll be honest, Father, there are still many things I am struggling with, and you know all about them because we talk about them each day. But this one thing I do know, and I don’t struggle over it at all...I know You love me and I sense your fatherly embrace in my life right now. Give my thanks to Jesus as he sits at your right hand. Thank Him for his broken body and shed blood so I could be covered. Till the day I join you in the throne room and embrace my family and friends... This is Irving, one of your children, one of the redeemed Signing off Thanks, Abba, Father, for your gift of Jesus , I love You. |
