As I alighted the bus this evening, there was a young girls with her arms outstretched. She exclaimed "mommy!" as the lady behind me got off the bus. I looked up and saw the father waiting with a joyful smile on his face. As I walked away, I looked back and watched the whole family embrace.
What a beautiful picture of the expectation with which our lives should be lived. As I walked away, I thought about how Christ is returning. It has seemed like an incredibly long time since he was here before, just like for a child, it seems like forever when a parent is gone. However, the father knows that in the light of reality, it is only a blink of an eye. Like a child waiting for their parents to return home, we are called to wait patiently with excitement and joy for the grand reunion.
I think about those days as a child when my parents were gone, and I would want to surprise them when they got home. I would do extra things around the house just to make them happy when they got home. I knew they loved me, so I wasn't trying to earn their approval, just bring them joy. In the same way, we can find joy in doing things that will please the Lord, without feeling that we need to gain his approval.
