Photo by Pixabay
Murray Smith
Recently my youngest had his 17th birthday. As part of his ‘day’ I told him I’d pick him up to go somewhere as a surprise before heading off for a burger together.
The surprise was taking him to our largest local supermarket. He wondered why on earth he’d been taken there. Inside, I gave him a birthday card with an explanation that he had a one minute ‘shopping spree’ to buy anything he wanted. Only two conditions…no ‘gift cards!’ plus he had to be able to carry it all (boxes and bags were fine!)
You might think one minute is a bit miserable. His Mum and I had already agreed that it should be a generous minute – and actually, you could do a lot of damage to a credit card in 60-90 seconds! I’d done ‘practice’ timings with the stop-watch on my phone… it seemed an interminably ‘risky’ time as I imagined a teenager barrelling around the supermarket grabbing anything that took his fancy.
A factor serving as a bit of a handbrake was that if you hadn’t pre-meditated doing this exercise, it’s seriously bewildering and dis-orientating to have it thrown on you!
Having received the brief, he agreed on a starting point and we were ready. He was excited, slightly confused and flustered all at once. Plus he was a bit reticent… to his credit, he said, “I don’t want to spend too much of your money!”
“Five, four, three, two, one go”… launched him flying down aisle’s grabbing stuff… items he wanted were in different places than usual and he burnt some time finding things.
Going to the checkout with his loot was great. Predictably, there were lots of snack foods, drinks and treats but some really practical choices too… like personal hygiene products that he wanted. Matt had proved restrained and sensible, revealing some gratifying things about his character in his crazy shopping spree.
This experience got me thinking about deeper realities. As a parent, and a person with a personal faith in God as my heavenly Father, I realise that my feelings for my son are a pale shadow of the feelings that God has for me (everyone, for that matter). He is a good Father. He loves tenderly, with great mercy, kindness and wisdom. Moreover He is relentlessly generous and faithful in supplying every need. Having relationship with Him is something that is more precious than anything.
I thought about the minimal ‘risk’ I’d ventured into, offering a pathetic little shopping spree and it reminded me of the risks God invests, showering benevolence on us, giving us ‘freedom of choice’ and being there when we’ve made bad decisions.
In wanting to bless Matt, I know he held back. We do that with God – we fail to take Him at face value and receive everything He extends our way – so, whether you’ve begun relationship with God, or feeling drawn to begin – there’s always going to be more.
“No eye has seen, no ear has heard, and no mind has imagined what God has prepared for those who love him.”
