Pup-pup

Last night during a wonderful girls' night with a new friend of mine the topic of God's "Daddyness" remained central to our conversation. We talked about (well she reminded me) of how, as women, we are princesses of a divine father. This is not just fru-fru Christian talk here. We are chosen daughters of the Master Creator of the earth and all that is in it. We've got just as much right to say we are princesses that Princess Grace, Princess Diana, or Pop Princess Miley Cyrus do (though they're not excluded from receiving God's inheritance). This is not symbolic, or theorhetic, or hypothetic. It's true.

This princess talk led to many topics: parents, boys, grace, and God's job as Heavenly Father. Somehow the conversation led to running ahead of God, and having him lovingly tug us back, sort of like a parent with a (gasp) baby leash!

I am not a mommy, but I am an auntie. And I'll tell you that, my 6 nieces have made my heart explode with love in a way that I never thought possible. I love these little girls with such fierceness, I without a doubt would do anything for them.

I have on particular niece who is 20 months old, going on 14. She is beautiful and funny and daring; and headstrong, stubborn and once she accrues more words to her vocabulary will be very outspoken. She calls me "Teetee" and would rather say no than hear it. My sister lives near a business highway and once my little niece puts her shoes on and is out the door, she bee lines for the excitement of the cars and trucks passing by. After we got tired of chasing her and carrying her kicking and screaming away from the danger, my sister invested in a backpack-baby-leash, otherwise known as "Pup-pup".

Now, everytime we play outside my teeny little princess wears pup-pup. We give her freedom to roam, but when she gets too clos to that business highway, we give pup-pup a tug and pull her back. Now, you know where I'm getting with this...

We would never keep her from excitement and fun to be mean. We keep her away from those rushing cars for the obvious reason: we love her a lot and we would like to keep her around, forever. When she is ready, (at age 16 with a driver's license) she will hit the road. Until then, though she fights us, we protect her from the harmful traffic. She doesn't understand now, but I think she will thank us (and pup-pup) later.

Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." -John 13:7

I think God may have many of us on these baby leashes. We get excited, we run for the freeway and all that it holds, only for him to pull us back. And when we kick and scream because we don't understand and we don't get what we want, God holds us and loves us enough to let us be mad at him. Just like my beloved little niece, he loves us too much to lose us. He knows the danger of the highway, he holds us back until we are ready, and I think we will thank him later.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. -Romans 8:17