Recently, I attended a friend’s wedding reception with my sister and some of her friends. I love weddings because they mean amazing free food and are a reason to celebrate, but also because, for many people, they double up as reunions of sorts.
It was a lot of fun catching up with people I hadn’t spoken to in years. And the free food, as always, put a smile on my stuffed face.
The bride and groom looked stunning and the atmosphere was that of joy, happiness, and laughter.
Weddings are great! The one thing, however, that I dislike (and as do most people, including the newly weds) is the long line of people waiting to wish the couple and take photographs with them.
You know what I mean. It’s an annoying Indian wedding tradition. The line is ridiculously long and it always takes forever to reach the couple, just to stand with them for five seconds before the photographer takes a photo that you will probably never get to see.
My sister, her best friend, Hamsa, and I were standing in the line. The team of photographers was led by Timothy, Hamsa’s husband, who is brilliant at what he does.
We were waiting in line, moving along at a snail’s pace, when suddenly, this slight buzzing noise filled the air. A small drone was flying above us, passing over the crowds, probably clicking snaps as it went along.
Let’s be honest here – drones are cool. Whether you’re a child, a teen, an adult or a senior, when you see a tiny flying object that isn’t a mosquito or a housefly, you are going to be fascinated.
And naturally, we all were. Children at the venue started running behind it. Our eyes followed that little flying machine hovering over us. All of us looked at it, wherever it went – all of us but one.
Through all of this, I could hear Hamsa whisper to herself, “Where is he? Where is he?”, while looking around for someone.
Naturally, I pointed at the drone and said, “There it is.”
But Hamsa went, “Not the drone, my husband.”
“While everyone looks at the drone, I look for my husband,” she said, and in response to my bewildered expression, “ah, there he is. See?”
Indeed, there he was, in one corner, staring at his drone, its controls in his hands.
“Really?” I asked, “Why?”
Her answer will stay with me for a long long time.
“There’s something about watching him fly a drone that I just love”, she said. I could hear the delight in her voice, as she continued to look at him.
In that moment, I got a glimpse of God’s heart for me. I couldn’t help but imagine my Father in heaven, looking at me, looking at you, and saying the same thing.
It absolutely matters what we do with our lives and what we accomplish, whether it’s in our families or careers. I definitely believe that God is pleased with our work when we do it.
But I also realized, that in the moments of our accomplishments, when the world around us is going to be looking at what we have achieved and celebrating it (or cursing it or us in jealousy), our Father is going to be looking right at us instead, with His heart saying, “There’s something about watching you do this, that I just love.”
It’s not your work He delights in, but in you.
And I can’t help but wonder what it would be like, if we felt the same way about Him.
– The Potter’s Clay
