Our Father...

"Our Father, Who is in Heaven, holy is Your Name." 

The beginning of this prayer is about acknowledging what is true.
First of all, God is Father. Daddy. Papa. He is mine. 

We have this crazy close bond because, for some reason, He adopted me! With my faults and insecurities and mistakes and fears, He has accepted me; body, soul and spirit. I am wholly, entirely, completely loved. No matter what I do or say.

I was a sinner.

I am a child.

The next phrase is about where home is: it's where my Daddy is, and where I long to be. 

Sometimes I just get such an intense empti-full-ness, because honestly, life stinks. It's miserable and draining and utterly discouraging sometimes. I feel like a wanderer here, and I just want to go home!  To curl up in my Daddy's arms and cry out all the hurt and sorrow I collected on this broken little rock, and when I'm all done, He will wipe away my tears and say, "You did well, little one. Come into my joy, and just rest." 

In apparent contrast with this image of our Daddy, is the reminder that He is holy. 
Although He has accepted us as children, He is still perfect. He's completely beyond. Outside. Separate. 

Beyond anything we can imagine or will ever experience here. Outside any boundaries that we little humans try to set. Separate from the sin that pervades the atmosphere here on Earth. In summary, God is more. More big. More powerful. More glorious. More brilliant. More everything. Holy.

So, today I run to my Daddy's arms. And I talk, like a little kid, about how big He is; and I recognize the ridiculous privilege I have by being His.

He is great. I am small. 

Despite the contrast, we fit. 

I am His.

And that's where everything starts. This small set of phrases is the great perspective-shifter.

Without this, I can super easily get everything all out of whack. I can forget my rights as a child,  and come cowering, begging for forgiveness. Or I can forget that God actually has power to make sure His will is done here like it is in Heaven. Or I can take everything for granted, forgetting that if mercy wasn't a thing, God's holiness would demand that sin be entirely wiped out, and I would be obliterated since I am (was?) a sinner.

There's a reason Jesus started His prayer this way. It's because these truths are the beginning of everything. They're like glasses lenses: without them things kinda start to lose focus.

 "Our Father, Who is in Heaven, holy is Your Name."

"Thank You that I can come to You like a little kid; thank You that You are my Daddy. I can't wait to see You completely someday, all wrapped up in glory in the big Heaven You live in. I can't even imagine what I'll see there- what You'll be like. I mean, You're completely beyond my little sphere of experience. You're perfect! I don't always get why You love me, but I'm thankful that it's true, and that nothing can ever change this fact. I love You too."

~Dolly