Searching

“Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?” – Luke 2:49

Exasperated, my heart and feet beat a steady rhythm against the warm pavement. Sweat drips down the inside of my arms and into my elbow creases. The sun heats the skin of my pale shoulders and deep into my bones. My eyes search the length of the old country road ahead of me. I huff to myself.

Nope. No dad.

I was only visiting Tennessee from Alaska for a weekend, and we were supposed to spend quality time running together. In the mayhem of afternoon company, my mother unwittingly told my dad that I left to run without him. However, I was just in the bathroom and when I came out, everyone was gone. Searching for my family, I finally found my mom on the road to the barn. With chagrin, she told me of my dad’s ill-advised early departure. So naturally, I set off after him, hoping to catch up on the route we normally ran together.

Still no dad. How far could he have gone?

Didn’t he know I wouldn’t have left without him? That I wouldn’t have gone without talking to him? Why didn’t he look harder for me?

I take a deep breath, roll my shoulders down and back, and relax my balled fists. Scanning the world around me, I take it all in: the summer grass fading from green to gold, the flowers gone or drying out, the trees changing to their beautiful autumn array of yellow, orange, and red. The only sounds come from the occasional truck roaring down the road with a friendly wave, the birds and animals chattering lazily, and the breeze rustling the grass and wheat. I love the quiet of these country roads. 

But through the quiet I hear a whisper in my heart.

How often, my dear, do you search for Me in the places I am not?

I grin. It is true. How much of my life have I spent looking to satisfy the restlessness of my heart with things that are not of the Lord? How often have I looked for Him in the places He said He wouldn’t be.

“Do you not know that I must be in my Father’s house?”

The words of Luke’s gospel flit through my head. My smile broadens as I continue across the little bridge over the slowly burbling creek. It is not a game of hide-and-seek. The Lord wants me to find Him. In His great love for me, He has told me exactly where He is and what I must do to be with Him. All I have to do is listen and open my heart.

Unfortunately for me, I am particularly hard of hearing. Or maybe just hard-headed. Perhaps both.

Mercifully, the Lord knew what He was up to when He formed me. And even more determined than I am to find my earthly father, the Lord searches for me. He knows exactly where to find me every time I wander away with some hare-brained idea that He is not where He said He’d be.

I make it to the end of the road without any sign of my dad. Vaguely concerned, I hope he hasn’t gone too much farther. I turn around and head home.

Arriving back at the beginning of the driveway, I spot my dad pacing, waiting for me. He smiles, “I thought you left. I went looking for you.” I squeeze his arm, “I know.”

He is always there, a good Father, waiting for His little ones to come home. Even when we don’t see Him and we think He’s left us alone, He is right there waiting. We are simply looking in the wrong direction.