Undying, Unchanging Love

"We are heirs of the father, we are joint heirs with the son, we are children of the Kingdom, we are family, we are one." Here, the song writer in a beautiful song reminds us of scripture: to "keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace." I love the fact that it is a familial bond. I am obsessed with it. No one can underestimate the value of the "horizontal relationship" we must have with one another to prove ourselves worthy of being called the children of God. Yet, what is even more fascinating for me is what makes all of this possible, what makes us "joint heirs with christ." The fatherhood of God!

The fatherhood of God has special meaning, especially, for those who have felt the pain of abandonment by earthly parents. I can say, without doubt, that they understand the fatherhood of God in very practical ways. Children uptown had mom and dad at the table with them; for those abandoned by earthly parents, the idea of loving parents, tenderness and caring at the dinner table, was but a dream. A friend who had this problem told me that he had to call for something that was not within him to come through the gates of his heart. He called on the Holy Spirit as a farmer to come into his heart and plant a seed. The seed planted in his heart was one of vision to see the fatherhood of God as the most dependable any human being can have.

It was offered to him. The seed germinated and bore fruits. No earthly father could compare to God. He later became a rock who consoled those who had enjoyed the care of earthly parents, but like sheep had still gone astray. When he brought them back into the fold, he consoled them; he convinced them of what he knew based on actual, real-life, everyday reliance that God's love as father was undying and unchanging. So with him we never have to fear the advent of disappointment, because it will never come! Indeed, He walks with me everyday.

Human beings fail us, disappoint us, become mouthpieces or voices of unbelievable cruelty. Earthly beings whose mouths too quickly proclaim love unleash a cruel brevity of the experience itself; it convinces us that a vision of the fatherhood of God must precede a "vertical relationship" that seeks to know the father with an incredible outpouring of the heart and an emptying out of soul. I cry out daily without restraint, "Take the passion of my heart, father, put it to work for you in this vineyard souls!" "For today, let your love, and not that of any human being fill my heart. Take me out of the prisons of disappointment and shame into your joy and righteousness until my work on earth is done. Amen!"

God bless! Keep the faith. Morning will come!