"Did You Forget Something?”     

“Nice worship service, Larry? Why don’t you and your family join us for lunch?”

“Sure, that would be great.”

I’m very embarrassed to say that in my rush to gather up my materials and drive to the restaurant, I forgot something… my five-year-old daughter. Can you believe that? Actually, I assumed she was riding with someone else and thought everything was fine until I stood in the buffet line and happened to notice… “Where’s my daughter? 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 pulling from the parking lot and flew back hoping and praying that 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 had 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 drive off and 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. For example:

Ø       Will that special someone describe you: “with a loving smile and starry-eyed wonder,” “a blank look but hopeful of more to come” or “a sneer displaying venom and frustration?”

Ø       Would your family portray you as: “busy but compassionate and loving,” “occasionally wild and crazy” or “mommy/daddy/brother/sister… who are they?”

Ø       Could your circle of friends be defined as: “growing stronger in every way”, “occasionally we run into each other” or “we used to be close… a long time ago?”

Ø       Your relationship with God would be described as: “struggling to deepen day by day”, “regular as in every Christmas and Easter” or “dusty as the Bible on the coffee table?”

“Daddy, how could you drive off and 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. In your rush of urgent day-to-day duties have you forgotten the excitement and the significance of that morning? “Surprise… Christ is alive! Hallelujah!”

U       Easter can restore the starry-eyed wonder in your significant relationship.

U       Easter can recapture the loving, occasionally crazy aspects of family living.

U       Easter can redefine your friendships as continually growing stronger.

U       Easter can renew your struggling connection with a loving, forgiving Father.

It took the love of a little girl saying, “Daddy, how could you drive off and 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. This Easter, may God help you do better, too.