Relating to the Father

Yet another string of "Blah blah blah!"

So, it seems I'm trying to enumerate & postulate how I relate to the Most High. His title's don't make it easy to relate... it's so difficult to think how my low life could be so important to one so far above. I left a lengthy, blow-hard response on a friend's blog (Tommy & Becky, a couple whom I admire).

The only way I know to relate to Him is to see how He's expressed his infatuation with me. I mentioned how I see Him as a father because I can recognize the same loving outreach from my own dad.

Y'know, I've come closer than I care to think in losing my dad. In almost 33 years, if I were to tell you about my Dad, it would have very little of those arguments or conflicts. Instead, it would be painted through the rose-tinted glass of a totally loving dad. It took me a long time to figure out what the rose-tint of the glass was... but I finally figured it out: there's blood on the glass.

Relating to a Father in heaven is so much easier when you've had a live example given to you. Like I said on the Browns' blog, if you're dad is like mine... relating to G_d as a father seems simple... but if you're dad's a real S.O.B., it can be a stretch. I think that's why he gave us so many examples of how He relates to us... so we can find the one where we easily relate to him as a starting point... Afterwards, we simply can stretch into the others.

Some people have been riddled with bad relationships. Thus it's hard to see the Church as a loving Family (especially, when they're not), G_d as a Father or His Spirit's conviction as a Comfort. There are days when we all see the Father from the skewed perspective of a fallen world.

Then, you have this dysfunctional family of his that acts more as a pack of wild, rabid dogs than a support group of loving siblings. In fact, it seems the single greatest cause of doubt in a Loving Father are the kids that profess his love so much.

Relating to him becomes difficult when it seems his kids are always finding a way to exclude you. What's worse, the love becomes thinner when you're a returning instead of arriving for the first time. It seems as if you're not trusted and labeled a "spy." As my friend Tim stated once at Liquid, "The love of G_d is freely given to newcomers. But if you've 'messed up' in a big way... you're still loved, but not as much." Y'see, we as "Christians" are more apt to make a person feel uncomfortable than to accept them. That's an easy way to help others misunderstand how their Father & Creator wants to relate to them.