I saw this photo of a father with arms stretched wide. It stopped me cold. A young boy sprinting toward his dad, joy exploding on his face. His father had just been released after six months held captive in Syria. And now — freedom, reunion, relief. If we want a picture of the gospel wrapped in human emotion, there it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time of year especially, we\u2019re reminded of the joy of being a child — running free, laughing hard, shouting \u201cDADDY!\u201d when we\u2019re about to be caught in a game of tag. Kids know exactly where to run when they need protection. No hesitation. No overthinking. Just instinct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus said, \u201cWhoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven\u201d (Matthew 18:4). He wasn\u2019t asking us to act childish — but childlike. To regain that wonder, that innocence, that unquestioning trust in a Father who watches over us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, my two youngest grandsons are grown men, but I still remember when I cared for them when their mom and dad were out of town. They insisted that I prayed with them for angels to camp around their beds before they fall asleep. If I ever forgot, they reminded me like I was delinquent in my grandmotherly duties. Once the angels were assigned, they slept like two little logs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Somewhere along the way to adulthood, our worries multiply and the wonder shrinks. We trade carefree confidence for deadlines, responsibilities, and the \u201cDid I pay that credit card bill?” kind of anxieties. The security we once knew becomes something we try to manufacture ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But here\u2019s the truth we forget — maturity in Christ doesn\u2019t mean being independent. It means being dependent — more than ever. On His grace. His goodness. His guidance. His mercy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God is our Abba — our DADDY. From our first breath to our last, His eyes are on us, His love is for us, and His plans — the Jeremiah 29:11 ones — are filled with hope and a future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as this wonderful time of the year races onward and we approach Christmas Day, may we approach it with wide-eyed wonder again — and realizing that this is all about the Baby Boy in a manger Who became our Savior and Lord.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is about our own childlike excitement instead of the season chasing us down that we do what children do best: Cry out, \u201cDADDY!\u201d And run straight into His waiting arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May we all run there today!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
#openarms #AbbaFather #wideeyedwonder #fathersarms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I saw this photo of a father with arms stretched wide. It stopped me cold. A young boy sprinting toward his dad, joy exploding on his face. His father had just been released after six months held captive in Syria. And now — freedom, reunion, relief. If we want a picture of the gospel wrapped…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23431,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[4315,1769,6201,1600,4317,2346,7202,5635,33000,11047,40,108,32993,545],"class_list":["post-23429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-child","tag-christian","tag-daddy","tag-father","tag-fathers-arms","tag-freedom","tag-gospel","tag-humble","tag-indpendent","tag-innocence","tag-inspiration","tag-kingdom-of-heaven","tag-syria","tag-trust"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23432,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23429\/revisions\/23432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23431"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}