I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what it means to a daughter. To be the daughter of a Father whose love is unwavering, pure, and oh so sweet. A love literally beyond our human comprehension. I get the image of a little girl, about five years old, standing on the edge of a sandy shore. The wind blows her fine blonde hair across her face, her brown eyes sparkling like drops of honey in the sun, feet sinking deeper in the sand with each passing wave. The water’s cold on her little toes but rays of sunshine are warm and comforting on her back. Standing on the shoreline, she thinks how nice it would be to stay and lay in the sand. Soak up the warmth of the sun. Maybe build a sand castle. The water is cold. And scary too. When you go deep you can’t even see what’s in it. And those waves. They could knock her over. Yes, staying on the shore is better.
But out beyond the shore, where waves taller than her are building into giant swells, there her dad, with a giant smile on her face, is calling her name. He motions for her to come, and for a moment she considers taking that first step forward. He does look like he’s having a lot of fun out there. But then she remembers the cold water and the big scary waves, and all of the mysterious things that live in the ocean that might eat you. She shakes her head no. Her dad calls her name again and motions for her to come, but being the stubborn little girl she is, she plants her toes even deeper into the sand and crosses her arms, staring at him defiantly. She will not go, she decides.
Then her dad, seeing she wasn’t going give in, treads through waters into the shallow where she’s standing. He kneels down to see her little face, still smiling. “Daughter, why are you still standing on the edge of the shore?” For a moment she’s not sure; with her dad next to her side, it’s hard for her to remember just why she didn’t want to go out in the deep with him. But then she remembers all the things, the things she doesn’t know about that mysterious water, the things that could happen. “I’m scared,” she says, her little voice full of innocent honesty. He looks at her compassionately, reaches his hand to brush her wispy hair from her face, and says to her reassuringly, “But you have no reason to be afraid. I’m right her with you.” Then he grabs her hand, looking down at her with a gentle smile, and motions out towards the crashing waves. She stares back at him with her innocent gaze. So full of trust. She knows in his care, she is safe.
And then, she un-plants her little foot, nearly buried in the sand, and takes a step forward. They walk hand in hand water, each step the cold water surrounding them higher and higher. These waves aren’t so bad, she thinks. The waves crash and surround her, pushing her back at first and then pulling her gently, further from the shore into the deep. Forgetting all of her fears and the coldness of the water, she let’s go of her father’s hand and runs ahead, splashing and jumping, laughing full of inexplicable joy. What on earth was she so afraid of!? Her dad was right. This WAS fun! She laughs and splashes, as he smiles at her lovingly, happy to see her enjoying herself.
She wants more. So she runs further in the deep. But the atmosphere suddenly changes. The waves that seemed so friendly in the shallow are now more real. And bigger. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea, she thought. In the distance, a giant swell began to rise, moving close and closer, building and building, bigger and bigger. Pure panic fills her as the wave approaches. What will she do? Where will she go? There’s nowhere to go and there’s no time. She turns and looks at her dad in fear, running towards the shore as fast as she can. But the wave is faster. It crashes over her, and tosses her like a ragdoll; completely at the mercy of the unforgiving current, she panics as she searches for the surface. But the whirlwind in the raging water keeps her under the waves and panic sets in. Finally, she reaches the surface, gasping for air, coughing, hair covering her face so she can’t see. She stands there just long enough to catch her breath for a moment, and then another wave pummels her, this time throwing her into the sand. She flails her arms in desperation, reaching for the surface. She reaches aimlessly and somehow finds a hand that pulls her from the grasp of the strong current into the light. It’s her dad. When she comes up from the water, she’s crying. “I couldn’t find you”, she said. “I thought I was going to drown and you weren’t there!” He depths holds her in his arms, up above the danger of the waves. “I was right there with you. You never left my site.” He comforts her, and she doesn’t want to let go of him. She feels so safe in the warmth of his arms.
After she was calm, still holding her , he said, “Can I show you what to do when a wave comes?” She looks at him hesitantly, but slowly nods. “When a wave comes”, he says. “Don’t run from it, just dive right in, right in the middle of it. Don’t be afraid. If you get caught in the current, I’ll always be there to pull you back to the surface.” Why on Earth would I dive into something so big and scary? She felt afraid, but then she remembered what her dad said. He’s right here with me, she thought. And he would never lie to me. He would never let me drown. So with all the bravery she could muster, she did it. She dove into a giant wave, one big breath and in she went right before it crashed over her head. And sure enough, she came right out the other side, face wet and smiling in the sun. And there her dad was, watching her with pride. Watching her with a Father’s love so deep. There was no wave he wouldn’t dive in, no current to strong, nothing he wouldn’t give to make sure his daughter was safe.
I’ve been thinking a lot about the Father’s love. About what it means to be a daughter. Being a daughter is trusting a loving God with your whole heart, trusting him when he calls you to deep waters, trusting him when he tells you to dive into a giant wave that might catch you in its current and throw you for a whirlwind. Trusting him with childlike innocence because he loves you with his whole heart and he promises to never call you to anything that he won’t be there for, to pull you from the deep when you are being pummeled by the waves and gasping for a breathe of air. He is truly so good. A good, good Father. And because of his goodness and love for us, we can be brave. We can walk with strength and confidence away from the shoreline and into the deep.
At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. “Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, …”.
