Have you ever watched a child at play? Have you seen how they will get excited about the simplest things sometimes, and they are truly, fully ecstatic about something that we see as menial and unimportant. Did you notice that you started to get excited and happy, just by seeing the child get excited? I have. For me, it has happened while hanging out with my closest nephew and niece, the ones that live just over the mountains from me. I love those kids, and always look forward to seeing them. It is fun to spend time with them for a couple of different reasons. One of those reasons is their childish innocence. However, spend a few hours with them, and you see it is not all about the happy things. They will also get really upset about menial things. Something that would hardly phase an adult can be the end of the world to a child.
Well... I think you probably can guess where I am going with this post. One of the reasons we don't get as excited as a child is because we have more life experience, we understand the perspective, we get why things happen (such as a dropped toy breaking, or a funny noise coming from the impact of two objects), and therefore are not as affected deeply by these things. Now, if you extrapolate this further, God probably doesn't get quite as phased by some of the things we deal with. I can almost imagine Him in Heaven; "Oh? You lost your job? That's terrible... Hang on, I'll be with you once I am done helping this plague victim... Right after I finish helping this orphan coping with seeing his parents killed in front of him by terrorists...." Fortunately, God is not limited by time or space, and is able to help everyone, but what can seem like absolute tragedies to us (such as the loss of a job, which is truly tragic, don't get me wrong, I've been through it... it was really hard emotionally) can often seem a lot smaller scale when you consider the grand scheme of things. In say a chunk containing 1,000 years of human history, does it really matter that Joe broke his potter's wheel in 760 AD? It certainly mattered to him, but did it change the course of history? Unlikely.
However, let me remind you of the first part of this post. Remember the happy children who can have their hopes dashed in an instant. How much do you want to help a kid when you see them disappointed, even if you know it really will be ok. How much do you want to get excited with the same child when they discover something that they LOVE? If you look at Facebook, people are posting videos of their children having fun discoveries all the time, and loving the moment with them. Now back to the "adult" side of life... Can you imagine that God would be even more thrilled when you decide to ask that girl to marry you, when you ace that bar exam, when you get that raise you have been working so hard for. Can you imagine that God would also hold and comfort you when you lose a friend, make a huge mistake, or watch a loved one suffer? I believe that He would.
In my limited experience, I can tell you that God cares. He cares about more than just our eternal welfare (which is ultimately what He cares the most about), but He also is quite involved in our lives. Now, I'm not saying He will always directly intervene and fix things for us (although He will sometimes), as you need to let the child figure things out sometimes, so does God. However, just because you let your child work through something that was hard for them, it does not mean you stopped caring about that child. It does not mean you were not rooting for the kid, hoping they would be successful, and looking forward to their joy when they did ultimately find success.
I believe that God does care about our lives in a deeply meaningful way. Most of the things we pray about are really unimportant in the grand scheme of things, but are important to us. Therefore, they are important to God. Why? Because He loves us with a perfect love, beyond the love we even feel for our own children. He sees us in a deeper way than we see ourselves, and He wants us to be happy. Not the temporary thrills that the world would have us desire, but truly, deeply, happy. Sometimes this involves our lives going well. Sometimes this involves our lives going not so well, but in all things, God gives us a way to be happy. I believe this to be true, and try to live this principle in all that I do. I invite you to also seek the good in your life, and look for ways to be happy, knowing that God is also hoping you will find those. I say this in the name of Christ, Amen.
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