"Nice worship service, Larry? Why don't you and your family join us for lunch?"
"Sure, that would be great."
I quickly gathered all my stuff and drove to the restaurant. While standing in the buffet line, a funny sensation began forming in the pit of my stomach. I tried to remain calm but in my rush to gather up my materials and drive to the restaurant, I realized I had forgotten something very important. Gulp! I'm embarrassed to say that I somehow forgot my five-year-old daughter, Lisa.
Can you believe that? Actually, I assumed she was riding with someone else. "Where's my daughter?" I asked. "Have any of you seen Lisa?"
"Not since church. She wanted to ride with you? Don't you have her?"
With a lump in my throat and a huge growing knot in my stomach, I ran out of the restaurant, squealed rubber driving from the parking lot and drove madly back to the church, all the while, hoping and praying my precious little child was okay. Upon reaching the church, I saw her standing by the front door with the saddest look on her face and huge crocodile tears running down both cheeks. Fortunately a kind gentleman stayed behind assuring Lisa that her forgetful Dad would be back soon.
As I carried her to the car with both little arms clinging tightly to my neck, she was still sobbing. I will never forget her cry of anguish: "Daddy, how could you forget me?"
Let's face it. We can all occasionally become so focused on our urgent day-to-day activities that we literally "drive off and forget" about something extremely important but not always urgent such as: our marriage, our family, our friends and especially our God.
Not sure if this applies to you? Well, take this short quiz --
Will that special someone in your life describe your relationship: a. "With a loving smile and starry-eyed wonder," b. "A blank look but hopeful of more to come" or c. "A sneer displaying venom and frustration."
Would your family portray you as: a. "Busy but compassionate and loving." b. "Occasionally wild and crazy." or c. "Mom? Dad? Brother? Sister? Who?"
Could your circle of friends be defined as: a. "Growing stronger in every way." b. "Occasionally we run into each other." or c. "We used to be close -- a long, long time ago."
Your relationship with God would be described as: a. "A relationship deepening day by day." b. "Regular as in every Christmas and Easter." or c. "Dusty as the Bible on the coffee table."
How did you do? If you are like me - somewhere between b and c. In other words, you can be forgetful too. "Daddy, how could you forget me?"
Just before dawn on Easter morning, several women came to lovingly prepare a body. "Mary Magdalene came to the tomb and found that the stone had been rolled away from the entrance. She ran and found Simon Peter and the other disciple whom Jesus loved. She said, 'They have taken the Lord's body out of the tomb, and I don't know where they have put him?'" (John 20:1-2)
At Easter sunrise the relatively average lives of a few women, eleven disciples and the entire world would never be the same. Now that Easter is over for another year how will you respond? In your rush of urgent day-to-day duties will you forget the significance of that morning? "Surprise! Christ is alive! Hallelujah!"
· Easter restores the starry-eyed wonder in your significant relationship.
· Easter recaptures the loving, occasionally crazy aspects of family living.
· Easter redefines your friendships as continually growing stronger.
· Easter renews your struggling connection with a loving, forgiving Father.
It took the love of a little girl saying, "Daddy, how could you forget me?" to remind me yet again of the critical difference between what is urgent and what is really important in life. With God's help I will do better. May God help you do better, too.
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