God has taught me so much through my daughter. He speaks to me through our relationship has father-child and also through her childlike faith.

For a while now Sheridan has reached that (sometimes obnoxious) stage of saying daddy ALL THE TIME.  At first it’s cute, but it has become the beginning of every sentence.  I can be looking straight at her and she will still say “Daddy” and I have to acknowledge her before she will continue.  There was a time I loved hearing her say “da-da” or “daddy”.  Sometimes she even just calls me “dad”.  (What 4 year old says that?) I know she’s a four year old but after the 234678 time you hear it, it becomes like fingers on a chalkboard.  So I’ve been trying to train her to just talk to me and not say “daddy” all the time.

It was during one of these talks that God spoke to me about this.  I may get tired of hearing daddy, daddy, daddy but He desires that kind of relationship with us.  He wants us to call on Him as our Abba, Father.  Galatians 4:6-7 says:

Because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and since you are a son, God has made you also an heir.

If we’ve come to know Christ, then we have the Holy Spirit within us.  If we have the Holy Spirit within us, then that spirit communes with the Spirit of God as our Father, our Dad.  We are His sons and daughters.  And He desires us to call on Him at all times.  It’s a constant communication.

I’ll be honest, there are times I desire peace and quiet from the 1001 questions Sheridan asks.  As much as I love her, I’m human and it can get under my skin.  What I’m learning is that God never desires that in our relationship with Him.  All throughout the gospels, Jesus withdrew for prayer time with God.   You know, I don’t think God ever sent Jesus away.  Look at what Jesus said in Matthew 8:28:

“When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I am the one I claim to be and that I do nothing on my own but speak just what the Father has taught me.

There has to be face time for this kind of instruction from God.  So while I have some things to work on as a parent, we serve a God who wants us to crawl up in His lap and just talk with Him.