As I prepare to become a dad for the first time, I am finding that my worldview is very quickly changing. Not only are most of my thoughts becoming much more practical (yes, I’ve started ranking cars by their safety ratings) but much more than that, how I see and engage with the people around me is changing too.

I very briefly joined Sarah and her team at Playgroup this week to assist with some singing and as I looked into the eyes of my new young knee-height friends, who were very enthusiastically dancing around as they belted out a song about being a fish, I saw a previously unseen wonder in their eyes.

I remember once hearing three questions that children (and in fact, everyone of any age) are constantly looking to have validated in the people they encounter:

• Do you see me?
• Do you hear me?
• Does what I say matter to you?

I love these questions. They are so simple, and yet they say so much about what we are looking for in our connections with others and with our Creator. They capture such a vivid snapshot of the human heart.

Our Unley Park Kids’ memory verse for June is Psalm 139:13-14. The phrase “you knit me together in my mother’s womb” has never hit me harder. As I write this, these very words are coming to life as God sculpts and forms my and Emily’s child.

I am now confronted by verses like “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” I believe that verse so deeply and so strongly of my child. Do I believe and accept it for myself? Not historically but now in fact, I must. For if my new parent’s heart is teaching me anything, it is also teaching me something fresh of God’s love for me too.

In Him,

Chris

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash