As A Parent, Play.

God is our Father. We are His beloved children. (1 John 3:2)

God uses this father-child analogy so that as we go about parenting, our experience as parents can help us understand how God sees us. 

In other words: Our experience as parents is a theological education.

Here is a personal example:

Last week, God brought the following verse to mind as a word from Him worth meditating on:

Whatever you do, do it […] as something done for the Lord […]
– Colossians 3:23a

My mind played it back this way: Whatever you do, you really ought do it well – because God is watching!

Days later I was preparing for a reception at a spiritual retreat center. That verse was still lingering with me.

As I prepared I could hear my daughter practicing cello in the loft of our barn-home. She was the real reason I was going to this reception. She had been hired to provide background ambiance to the spacious and manicured grounds. I was merely tagging along.

I reflected on who might be there. I used to conduct day retreats at the retreat center and expected to see some dear friends. With pleasure, I thought of my own daughter blessing people I loved with her art. And I became attentive again to her practicing.

I smiled. How pleased those friends would be at hearing my daughter’s playing. And with that thought God’s Spirit grabbed my attention:

Tim, you are my son just like she is your daughter. I love that you are an extension of me – blessing others with the gifts I’ve endowed you with. I love to watch you work. I love that you try, and fail, and try again. All of it gives me fatherly joy and pride.

Once we arrived I found a solitary seat near the small stage. I ignored everything else for over an hour – intent on watching my daughter play and letting her music fill my ears.

Listening to my daughter play that day became a spiritual exercise for me as I reflected on my joy, pride, and pleasure in my daughter and her art. I was experiencing something similar to God’s pleasure in me.

As a parent, you are getting a theological education.

But that is not all.

As a co-creator with Christ, your parenting is one area where God made you to be an artist. No-one will do it like you do. You don't need to get it perfect – because God is not a demanding father. He just loves to watch you play. And as you express your personality and gifts in and around your home, your home and your children are becoming an artistic extension of Him in the world.

Whatever you do, do it […] as something done for the Lord […]
– Colossians 3:23a