Daddy's Kisses

I remember a trip our family went on to an amusement park and on the way home we stopped for pizza. My almost-two-year-old niece, Isabella, was with us and she had crashed with exhaustion after a long, fun day. She was completely zonked out, snoozing on her mom, Kiyana, who was lovingly looking at her precious daughter and saying, “I love these times because I can kiss Isabella as much as I want to.” Of course, she was referring to the fact that a nearly-two-year-old has a bundle of squirmy energy that doesn’t lend itself to slowing down long enough to receive too many kisses. And now Mom had her chance!

As soon as she said this, I thought, What a perfect picture of how our Daddy in heaven loves us. We are precious to our Father and He thoroughly enjoys watching us run around and discover things. But since we are often too active to enjoy His kisses, He can hardly wait until we get to the end of our day, exhausted and needing rest. Then Papa says, “Oh, good! Now I get to kiss them as much as I want to.” You see, God never sleeps nor slumbers. (Psalm 121:4)

What do you suppose He’s doing when we’re sleeping? Well, since God is love, it makes perfect sense that He takes that time to kiss us as much as He wants to. And just like Isabella, you don’t have to do a thing to receive those kisses. It’s simply the natural response of Daddy’s perfect love that must find its expression toward the ones He adores—that’s you and me!

No wonder we wake up with a fresh gift of new mercy every morning. It’s because we had huge doses of love lavishly and continuously poured out upon us all night long. Jeremiah 31:3 (BBE) reads:
My love for you is an eternal love: so with mercy I have made you come with me.

God has a definite motive for showering us with His love. Here it is: Since God knows He’s the best thing for us, He makes it downright impossible for us to resist Him, and we find ourselves continuously drawn into His great heart.

If you think this is good news, I have some even better news for you. You don’t have to wait until nighttime for your heavenly Daddy to kiss you. God is always showering us with His love and He is bringing us into a growing awareness of His love during our waking, active hours as well. In fact, one of the Bible’s most fervent prayers is that we will truly get how big and good God’s love really is. (Ephesians 3:16-19)

This is why it’s so important that we slow down and enjoy “soaking times,” when we learn to tune our hearts to His and experience more and more of that continuous flow of love. Why don’t you take a few moments right now to quiet your heart and agree again with the most powerful truth the world has ever known: “Daddy, you love me!”

He does not merely tolerate you politely, He delights Himself in you! (Ephesians 5:29 TMT) 

Enjoy the journey into the depths of Papa's HUGE heart for you!!

Taken from chapter 4 (A Father Who Celebrates You) of Daddy, You Love Me: Living in the Approval of Your Heavenly Father by Brent Lokker.