In His Presence

Psalm 5:3,  "In the morning, O Lord, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

     One of my daughters, Weety, was telling me what some of her grandchildren like to do when they visit her.  The two little boys--one three and the other almost three--like for her to play trucks and cars with them.   Her youngest granddaughter loves to play "babies."  She and Weety feed, bathe, dress, and rock her dolls.  In other words, these grandchildren just want their grandmother to hang out with them.  What they want is her PRESENCE.
      There is tension with many parents as to how much time and energy they should spend working to buy things for their children--to give them PRESENTS of all kinds, including the necessities of life--and how much time they should spend just hanging out with their children.  As much as young people love getting PRESENTS, often what they want and need most from their parents is just their PRESENCE.
     Our Heavenly Father wants us to spend time just hanging out with Him too.  He likes it when we spend time reading His Word and talking things over with Him in prayer.  He wants our PRESENCE.  Perhaps too often we allow the PRESENTS of our gifts to Him and service for Him to substitute for spending quality time with Him.  But there is absolutely no substitute for spending time in the PRESENCE  of our Heavenly Father.  That is where we find peace and strength and wisdom and all the other qualities we need to live abundantly.
Father, thank You that, as the song says, "In the PRESENCE of Jehovah, God Almighty, Prince of Peace, troubles vanish, hearts are mended, in the PRESENCE of the King."  May we make spending time with You our number one priority.  Amen.