Father of the Heavenly lights (excuse the length!)

During my devotions (which seem to be few and far between these days I regret to say!) I turned to the first chapter of James. Having read it many times before, I (I again regret to say) was sort of skimming it and reading half -heartedly. I skimmed past my usual favorites..."Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds..." and "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault...", but it was at verse 17 and 18 that my eyes stopped. How many times had I read these verses and never really thought about what they were saying? "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows." Of course I love the beginning, "Every good and perfect gift is from above", and my mind went immediately to my daughter napping next to me. It doesn't get much more "good and perfect" than that. But the words that really caught my attention that morning were, "Father of the heavenly lights". "Father of the heavenly lights". My God is the "Father of the heavenly lights". Wow, when I take a minute and actually think about what that means, it's almost unfathomable. My God, the One who has engraved me on the palms of his hands, as it says in Isaiah 49:16, is the Creator and Father of that great expanse of the world above me. Who hasn't layed in the grass on a summer's night or in the snow on a winter's night and looked up into the heavens and been overwhelmed by the immensity of what lay above? The dark, never ending sky, the glittering stars, the beautiful, spotted moon... I wonder if my mind will ever be able to grasp how my Father, who knows every hair on my head and every thought I have ever had, who daily listens and intercedes on my behalf, even when my requests seem so petty and trivial, is the same Father of the fiery sun, the roaring ocean, the towering sequoias... He, so powerful and magnificent, cares for me, loves me, delights in me! He, who sheds the tears I hide when I have been hurt, when my heart has been wounded by those who know nothing of who I am. He, who cheers and jumps up and down when I have risked and been me. He, who's heart is overflowing with the deepest love I could ever imagine, who can't stop gushing about how wonderful I am and how proud He is of me no matter what I do or don't do. He, who sits on my bed at night, when I am completely unaware, and gazes at me for hours, marveling at how beautiful I am and how much He loves me. That is my Father, our Father. I confess most days the thoughts I just shared that I had that morning reading James, never cross my mind. How little I think of Him being the Father of the heavenly lights. How little I shed tears when He has been hurt. How little I cheer and jump up and down when I have seen who He is. How little my heart overflows with deep love and I can't stop gushing about how wonderful He is and how proud I am of Him. How little I marvel at how beautiful He is and how much I love Him. And for this I ask forgiveness, because He deserves all that and more. But you know what? The beautiful thing is, He just keeps loving me in spite of it. I wanted to end with two things, one, one of my favorites, a song called When God Ran by Benny Hester, and two, a quote from Ralph Waldo Emerson.(you will find he is one of my favorites, though he needs some guidance on who God truly is) I won't comment on them, they pretty much speak for themselves.

Almighty God,
The Great I Am
Immoveable Rock,
Omnipotent powerful
Awesome Lord,
Victorious Warrior
Commanding King of Kings
Mighty Conquerer,
And the only time,
the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when
He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise when God ran
The day I left Home,
I knew I'd broken His heart
I wondered if
Things could ever be the same,
Then one night,
I remembered His love for me
And down that dusty road, ahead I could see
It's the only time,
the only time I ever saw Him run
Was when He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said "Son, do you know I still love you?"
It caught me by surprise, He brought me to my knees
When God ran
I saw Him run to me
And then I ran to Him

Holy God, Righteous One
Who turned my way
Now I know, He's been waiting
For this day

And then He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
I felt His love for me again

He ran to me,
Took me in His arms, held my head to His chest
And said "My son's come home again".
Looked in my face, wiped the tears from my eyes
With forgiveness in His voice
He said Son, He said Son, He called Me Son!
Do you know I still love you
oohhh...He ran to me
When God ran.

"If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore; and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown!"