Go home for the holidays

It has been nice to have my girls home over the Thanksgiving break. Last night we went out to dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. What transpired was eerily similar to what I experienced a few days ago in Kentucky when I visited my parents. Only this time, in true Twilight Zone fashion, I was the parent watching my three children reminisce and joke about their experiences growing up. It was great.

Now comes the difficult part. One of the girls is leaving tonight. Another is sleeping over a friend's house. The third daughter will be heading off tomorrow after church. I hate it. They are growing up and developing lives of their own. I guess I can take consolation in he fact that Lori and I have done a good job as parents. We have fostered their development into capable young women. And they always come home.

As I was working off some of the Sweet and Sour Chicken on the elliptical trainer at the gym this morning, it hit me that our heavenly Father must have similar feelings. He gave us free will, the ability to think and choose and he sends us out into the world. Some of us relish that freedom, we take off and rarely ever come home. We never think about how that affects God.

Maybe it is about time we begin thinking about God and make it a point to visit Him regularly. Worship is not an obligation. It is something you do to express your love for God. Whenever we come home, we touch his heart and make him glad. I can tell you as a father, I love it when my kids come home. So do the same for God. Go home this Christmas and make his heart glad.

Cal