Face to Face and Eye to Eye

Have you ever thought about how very big God is and how very small you are?

As I closed my eyes to go to sleep this image popped into my head:

God is our Father. And we are His children. Rather than viewing this as an abstract metaphor, I began to meditate on this thought quite literally. And suddenly I think I saw how it applied to myself.

I was a little girl, and God was my Father. We were strolling along through life and all of the sudden, He reached for my hand, right at the exact moment that I was reaching for His.

Now, to keep this in perspective, God was ever so much taller than my small, toddler-like frame. I was just old enough to comprehend my need of assistance. Just old enough to understand that I needed His overarching protection.

I was in awe of God's height and His stature was quite daunting. But His height was not the object of my attention. At such a tender age, my thoughts were fixed only on His hand. If only I could grasp it.

You see, the unique thing about this whole scenario was that I was just short enough to where I couldn't quite grasp His huge hand. And He was just tall enough that I knew I would have to strain to hold His in my own.

These images seemed to paint perfectly the image of the way that God the Father trains us up in His ways. He tells us in Colossians 3 to "set our mind on things above". In this picture, the toddler recognized their need to do just that. In a great determination to palpably know the strength and protection of His hand, the toddler's eyes were averted upwards.

But at the same time, this upward glance seems like just enough to keep me walking. To continue the stroll with my Father. The hope of His love is enough to keep me reaching upwards.

But alas, I am still in the toddler stage. For though I have looked upon His hand, I cannot yet grasp it. And besides, the hand is only the first step in the right direction. While my eyes are set upwards, they have not yet reached the "high places". For they have yet to meet His eyes.

Perhaps that is for another day. But for today, I am content to reach for the higher places, and hopeful that one day I shall grasp His hand, and He shall grasp mine. And on that day we will meet face to face and eye to eye.