For most of my adult life I have been against growing up.  I wanted to stay in my 20′s for forever (obviously knowing that it wouldn’t happen).  I had so much fun and felt so good in my 20′s that I didn’t want it to end.  I liked being a big kid.  Who doesn’t?!  That’s right.  No one.  Marriage really didn’t change it that much for me either.

But then one day we had a little baby.  She screamed so loud and the nurse handed her to me.  Of course, we had just had a baby and that’s supposed to change everything in my world.  We all know and have heard that a million times.  But while it does change everything, you still have a little baby that doesn’t do much and you play with them all the time.

Then your kid starts to learn.  Starts to talk.  Starts to understand.  That’s when it all started changing for me.  I was no longer just the parent that could get my little one to sleep by swinging her in the carseat for hours on end.  I was not longer just the parent that changed diapers and cleaned up bodily fluids.  I became the parent that was that little girl’s daddy.  I was her daddy.  She knows it.  I know it.  There is a difference.  It’s just not the same anymore.  People talk to her and refer to me as her daddy.  She sees me, brings me things, crawls up in my lap as her daddy.

I didn’t wanna grow up, but if it means being a daddy, then maybe I’m ok with it.

Our little girl is almost 4 months old now.  We have had some good times and some bad times when it comes to putting her to bed.  Sometimes we have multiple times in one night.  But the one thing that stays the same every night is that my wife and I want to help her rest, eat and sleep.

As I was putting her to bed last night the thought occurred to me.  We are just like my little girl.  Our loving Daddy, God, wants us to rest in Him.  But just like my her we fight and squirm and try to get away.  Sometimes we just don’t feel worthy of it.  Other times we think we know how to do it on our own.  Or we just want to do something else.  But no matter what the situation is, Daddy knows what’s best for us.  He knows we need to rest in Him and when we don’t we suffer.

Don’t you know he enjoys giving rest to those he loves?

Psalm 127:2

Are you tired?  Worn out?  Hurting?  Wanting?  Rest in your Daddy’s arms.  Don’t worry.  He wants you to.

As little kids we looked up to our dads. They were/still are super heroes. They could do anything, fix anything, be anything, play anything, create anything, etc. We wanted to hang out with dad and spend all the time we could with him. But the best fathers know that their kids eat it up when they feel needed. Nothing else is important in that moment.

When daddy needs you the entire world stops.

As fathers we know that (yes I am speaking a little ahead of my own life but I have seen it happen) the two-year-old really doesn’t lend any real help, but it builds them up and makes them feel a part and loved. When you are carrying the groceries in and the little one is there to “help” you give them the bag of chips knowing that it isn’t heavy and they taste just as good in smaller pieces as it will be dropped multiple times on the way from the car to the kitchen.

The dropping tripping over smashing help of the little one isn’t about the help, though. The help is more for the benefit of the child than it is for the parent. Dad is completely capable of carrying the groceries or turning off the lights or painting the wall. He doesn’t need the help of his kid and it may actually be causing him more work, but the whole thing is not for him. The child learns and grows and feels loved and accepted through the situation. They start to learn lessons and skills that they would otherwise miss out on by just going inside and playing with their toys.

There is a connection here with ministry work. As Driscoll put it, “Ministry is putting on a little hard hat and going to work with Dad.” Dad doesn’t need your help. He is an all-powerful God! But when we make ourselves available to be put to work our heavenly Daddy gives us a job to do. Yes He is fully capable of doing it without our help, but the benefit to us is huge. The lessons we can learn from being a part of what Daddy is doing. It helps us grow. It helps us mature. It makes us a part of what He is doing.

So go out there and put on your little hard hat and go to work with your Daddy. He is doing something far beyond your capacity, but He wants to involve you in it!

It’s crazy how something so small completely changes your world.  It’s no longer about what I wanna do.  It’s no longer about what is best for me.  What is best for me is now taking care of a little one that relies solely on us.  It is loving this eating, crying and pooping machine (still somehow cute through all of it).  If I still go through life aiming for the things that I want and not what WE want I have no right to be called daddy.

As I was reading this chunk of Romans this hit home.  Just as it says, when we focus on ourselves we are no longer looking toward our Daddy who created us.  We aren’t giving Him the love and attention He deserves just for being Who He is.  I pray that I don’t live my life focused on myself but rather on God.  I don’t want to be focused on me but focusing on my family.  I could never live up to the title daddy if I didn’t.

Focusing on the self is the opposite of focusing on God. Anyone completely absorbed in self ignores God, ends up thinking more about self than God. That person ignores who God is and what he is doing. And God isn’t pleased at being ignored. But if God himself has taken up residence in your life, you can hardly be thinking more of yourself than of him.

Romans 3:7-9