Brandon reached for a glass, accidentally knocking two others off the shelf. Crash! But Brandon didn’t care. He was thinking, “I’m going to get Daddy some milk!” Meanwhile, Brandon’s Daddy was watching all this, wondering if he should step in and save the rest of the kitchen. He decided, for the moment, to watch a little more as Brandon scrambled off the chair, dodging the pieces of broken glass, and headed for the refrigerator.
Brandon flung it wide open, and it stayed open, of course. Brandon put the glass on the floor–out of harm’s way, supposedly--and grabbed not the little half gallon of milk, but the big full gallon. He ripped open the top, poured it in the vicinity of the glass, and even managed to get some milk in the glass. The rest went all over the floor.
Finally done, Brandon put the milk jug on the floor and picked up the glass yelling, “Daddy, I got something for you!” As he ran into the living room, he tripped and spilled milk all over the place--the floor, the sofa, and his dad. Brandon got up and looked around. There was broken glass, milk everywhere, cabinets open, his dad with milk from his eyebrows to his toes, and he started to cry. Through his tears, he looks up at his dad with that pained expression that says, “What are you going to do with me?”
His dad only smiled. He didn’t see a kid that just destroyed his house. Instead, he saw a beautiful little boy whom he loved very much. It didn’t matter what he’d done. Brandon’s dad stretched out his arms to hold the little boy tight and said, “This is my son!”
Our God is a Father who loves us unconditionally, even though we sometimes make a real mess of things. Jesus told a similar story about another son who messed up. Remember the “Prodigal Son”? It could also be called “The Parable of the Loving Father” because, just like Brandon’s dad, the father in the story threw his arms around his son and said, “This is my son!” (Luke 15:11-32).
Isn’t it nice to know we have such an awesome Father in our God, who loves us no matter what and who picks us up when we have made a mess of things?
--Rocky Henriques, www.uticabc.com