Oct 29, 2014
Top of the List
by Katrina Goodrich
Early one Sunday morning I was in my bed sleeping. I had gotten to bed quite late the night before due to the necessity of watching a college football game that didn’t begin until 9:30 that evening. I hadn’t gotten much sleep and it had been a pretty hectic week, so I was exhausted and enjoying sleeping in. Then I heard it. This sound, drawing me from blissfully unconscious into a groggy state, was extremely unpleasant. After a few minutes my mind finally identified this crude noise. My adorable niece and nephew were awake and urgently pounding four little fists on my bedroom door. I finally mustered enough strength to ask what was wrong. My four year old nephew responded with this, “I need to ride the elevator! Right now!”
Anyone who has met my nephew knows how much he loves elevators — to the point of obsession. He loves them so much that he pretends they are everywhere he goes. Some of his favorite pretend elevators are located right in my room. Needless to say I was exasperated with him and his little sister, who does exactly what her big brother does. I told them to come back later. The knocking didn’t end. I tried to get them to go away but they wouldn’t. After about ten minutes of this torture, I dragged myself out of bed, over to the door, and opened it.
A rude awakening was not what I needed that particular morning. When I opened that door and stepped out, I was so groggy I couldn’t think straight. Immediately
I was bombarded with little bodies, enveloped in the biggest hugs two kids under the age of five could muster. I had been pretty busy for a few days so we hadn’t gotten to spend to much quality time together and they missed me. They weren’t as much interested in driving me crazy as they were in seeing their aunt and getting to play and have fun.
We are a lot like my niece and nephew in our relationship with God. We can go for days without thinking about, or acting on our Christian relationship, with our creator. Then something happens. We realize we’re missing something. We get into trouble, go to church, or whatever, and we remember that we have a loving God who we can call on at anytime for help or even just to talk. And he responds to us — its not always in the way we expect or want, but he’s there. He opens his doors and floodgates of love are washed upon us. And so unlike me in this story, God is never groggy or annoyed, even when we come to him with the most ridiculous requests — akin to needing to ride a pretend elevator. He responds to our needs even when we don’t bring them to him. He’s patient and loving, slow to anger and waiting for us to respond to him.
When I stop to think about it, and hierarchicallycategorize the things that I am thankful for this holiday season, at the top is the personality and nature of God toward his people. I have so much to be thankful for and it all flows from the loving care of the Father of creation. As Christians we have unique and amazing reasons for being thankful. At the top of that list is a loving God who, no matter how ridiculous we act, loves us unconditionally.
