During Advent and Christmas season, my family and I were deep into baking mode. Apple, pumpkin and strawberry rhubarb pies graced our oven, breads were consumed and happily shared with neighbors and friends and gingerbread and chocolate chip cookies blessed our dining room table. We feasted like being in good company and celebrating the birth of Hope deserved. While it means I now have to run an extra mile to burn all the feasting off, I am glad we did.
Looking back at the Holiday season, there is one moment that is particularly dear to me. A moment as sweet and simple as it is powerful. I don’t really remember what day it happened, or if it was morning, afternoon or evening time. All I remember was seeing Lily reaching up the dining room table, with her tiny hand, looking for a cookie. When our eyes met, she did not take her hand away nor did she look guilty or ashamed in any way. She simply smiled, and continued to look for that coveted cookie. Eventually, she did.
You may not feel like that moment was anything special. Yet, it struck a chord with me. My daughter was certain that our dining room table carried delicious things to eat. Hungry as she was, she did not hesitate to reach out and look for one of those delights, confident that her father would (at the very least for the sake of the festive season), bless and reward her efforts. And if it pleased me, a loving yet imperfect father, to see my daughter’s hunger being satisfied, how much more does it please our Heavenly Father to satisfy our hunger? If Lily would not have believed we had filled our table with good things, or if she thought that those things were not for her, or if she feared that we would scold her for reaching out, she would have missed out on the sweet treat. But she didn’t. Why not? Because she was confident of her parents’ goodness toward her. The Psalmist invites us to have the same expectation of God: “I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” (Psalm 27:13).
This year, why not reach out your hand for a cookie?
Why not expect that we have in Heaven, and beside us, a good and loving Father?
