I think there is a difference between the love of a Father and that of a Mother. A mother is a nurturer and a protector - her love is about sharing herself from the moment of conception. A father is something different I think. He cant possibly know the sort of connection which comes from carrying a baby in the womb for nine months - but I think he perhaps has an enhanced sense of wonder and pride in what he has helped to produce. Dads ( and I know Im generalising here and that there are exceptions, but go with me please) are overwhelmed by the intensity of the love they feel for their newborn. Mums have had a chance to love the person inside them with every kick and turn and hiccup. They are fractionally more prepared. And massively more conditioned by society to be ready for the role of parent. Children allow men in our buttoned down and ridiculously macho society to express their loving, creative, passionate side. Fatherhood is a wonderful thing. And Im not surprised that God chooses to call Himself a Father. It depicts something very specific about His relationship with us.
Yesterday my thoughts about Fathers led me to wonder how God the Father felt when He saw Jesus being born. Of course He has witnessed a gazillion births in the history of the world - but I wonder if the birth of His own Son was different. Did He do a bit of heavenly pacing and nail biting? Did He break out a celebratory cigar to share with the angels? Was the throne room filled with blue helium balloons and teddy bears in the days after the birth? Hee hee. Fanciful yes, but Im sure that in some ways the birth of Jesus was momentous for God. Here was a son who had always been present with God now becoming something other than God - an infant. And this only Son was now given to earthly parents to care for and bring up. (That's a sacrifice with which only parents who have given up children for adoption can identify.) Im sure that God was super proud of Jesus as He took His first steps and cut His first teeth and spoke His first word. Chuffed to bits as He celebrated His Jewish milestones and poured over scriptures and won the arguments with the Rabbis in the temple aged twelve.
We use the term 'God The Father' without thinking about what this really means. But when Jesus instructed His disciples to approach God as father it was a radical departure from the religious norm. No longer was God to be considered as the omnipotent stern ruler but as the benevolent, protective, loving, teacher and mentor, authority and progenitor. We can just about manage to get our minds round the fact that we are children and God is father but what about looking at the relationship from God's perspective. He loves us as His children. In the same way that we love our children. In the same way that my Jo Jingles dad yesterday loves his seven month old daughter. But more. He delights in us. He adores us. He is proud of us. He can't take His eyes off us and rejoices in our every tiny success. He is ambitious for us and would do anything to protect us and keep our hearts and spirits whole and focused on Him. Like any good Father He will let us wobble and fall, picking us up and setting us back on our feet as we take tentative steps into the unknown. Unknown to us. Not to Him. He loves nothing better than when we smile at Him, kiss Him, talk to Him, ask for His advice. He loves it when we fulfil our potential and try our hardest. He hurts when we hurt and hates anyone or anything which tries to defeat or despoil or destroy us.Christmas is not only about God the Son. It is every bit as much about God the Father.
God, I just want to say thank you for being my heavenly father. For loving me as your child and the apple of your eye. Help me to return to you all the love you long for. May I receive all the passion and care you lavish on me and rest securely in your love all the days of my life. Amen
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