Refreshing. Renewing. Rewarding.
And upsetting. Why do I wait till I am worn out to spend a long time with my Father God? Why don’t I spend more long spans of time with him just because I can? I sat under a tree in West Cambridge Park for the day and got to read, pray, worship, and spend some time with God. It was great.
I learned a whole bunch, but one thing I wanted to share happened on the playground. I was trying to do my thing and read and spend some time on God and this little girl kept yelling so loud over on the playground. Not thinking that maybe God wanted to get my attention, I finally listened and benefited from it. She was probably 4 or 5 years old (I really can’t tell kids’ ages, she could have been fourteen for all I know) and she was surrounded on the playground by a bunch of other children. And she can’t jumping off this silly slide. She didn’t try to get any of her peers attention, she only wanted her mom’s. “Mom! Mom! Watch me! Watch me!” She kept on yelling so much that it got my attention. All she wanted was her mom’s eyes and attention, and one more critical thing – her approval.
In my job and with the people I love, it’s so easy to look at the other people on the playground, and say “look at me, look at what I’m doing, I need your approval!” But that little girl reminded me today that the approval I really want to have is my Father’s. Maybe if I stopped trying to get others’ attention and sought my Father’s, not only would I have more focus but I could know true success.
My Father’s smile.
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
