Grace* was at the beach with her mother, sitting in the sand, watching the ocean. Recently, her church had sung a very popular song titled, “Oceans,”** and as she was sitting there, she began to sing…..it was so beautiful. Her little 5 year old voice rose with the tide as she lifted her praise to her God.
“You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail…And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise…My soul will rest in Your embrace. For I am Yours and You are mine… And my faith will be made stronger…In the presence of my Savior…”**
Her mother sang along with her, lost in this incredible moment of surrender to Her King. They gazed over the waves, feeling the cool breeze as the water washed over their feet and legs.
It was a moment she would forever cherish in her heart.
Then, all of a sudden, in mid-verse, Grace* stopped, and said, “Okay, there is a lot of sand in my bathing suit. I’m going to go get in the water and rinse off now.” Her mother looked at her in shock at the sudden change, and simply said, “Okay ,” and off Grace* went to be a child playing in the waves.
As the mother told me this little story, I was struck at how similar our lives are with God. We can sit down to enjoy a “precious moment” with Him, and we can become so enraptured in His sweet presence when we just let everything else go. We can sing, pray, or even dance, without a single worry or concern. Then, all of a sudden, the waves of alarm hit us, or the tide of time comes in, and we jump up, telling Him, “Well, I’ve got to go now. There’s so many agendas and cares to which I must tend.” Not much unlike this little girl, we, as adults, too often leave Him behind, and go about our business, as if that moment with Him was great, but we leave Him there on the shore as the cares of this world cloud our vision of Him and the moments we spent with Him.
It would be so much better for us if we could learn that He longs for us to remain in His presence throughout our whole day! He does want to hear us say, “Good Morning!” and listen to our bedtime prayers; however, He longs to walk beside us and let us tell Him about every moment of every hour of our day, too. Some might say, “I just don’t have time to stop and pray all day long,” and to those I would challenge with a question, “Why not?”
So many have a misconception that our relationship with God has to be filled with a bunch of “Thees” and “Thous,” and our prayer hours must be enclosed with angels singing and some priest chanting scriptures. Who ever convinced us of that has deceived our wayward hearts! Sure, we should have moments when there is no one else around and we “get alone until we’re not alone anymore,” but Jesus spent time with His disciples off the mountaintop, too. He walked with them; He ate with them. He traveled from town to town with them. He just “hung out” with them. If He did all that with them, while here on this earth, don’t you know He longs to do the same with us while He’s away?
Our Heavenly Father longs to have a relationship with us – a living, breathing, real relationship, one that includes life-altering “holy” moments as well as those simple, seemingly obscure, chats about our day.
So, I challenge you to examine your heart and ask yourself how well you know this Savior, this man who died that you might live. Ask yourself if you have a real relationship with Him or one that may be filled with too many childlike distractions…

*Names have been changed to protect the innocent.

**Credit: “Oceans” by Hillsong United. Album: Zion, 2013
I do not own, nor do I claim to own, any rights to this song, including music, lyrics, or any other contents of this song.