Wrenches & Worship
I woke up to a jostling of the bed. As I opened my eyes, I saw my five year old daughter standing over me holding a tray, my wife beside her.
“Happy Father’s Day!” my daughter Kayden shouted in her high pitched squeaky voice. I was greeted with breakfast in bed, Father’s Day cards, and a wrapped gift.
After I opened the gifts on the tray, Kayden said, “Dad I got you another gift all by myself.” I looked to my wife Carrie. She looked as surprised as I was.
“You did? What is it?” I asked.
Kayden pulled her hand from behind her back, extended it toward me, and with excitement exclaimed, “Tada! I got this for you, Dad!” I looked down at her little hand. She was holding a wrench. No wrapping, no bow, just a wrench.
I smiled and took the wrench in my hands. As I looked it over, I noticed something very familiar about this wrench. In fact, it was a wrench I had owned for many years and kept on my workbench out in the garage. My smile must have expanded as it dawned on me what Kayden had done.
“You like it don’t you Dad?” Kayden interjected. I warmly replied, “Kayden I love it! This is perfect.”
While this was one of the most unusual gifts I had ever received, it was one that I will never forget. Kayden, as a five year old, had no resources of her own to buy me anything. Even if she had some money, she had no real concept of what to buy me. So, on her own she did what she thought I would like. She went out to the garage and picked out one of my tools and gave it back to me as a gift. Kayden had heard me talk about how I valued my tools, how I had a special place for each one. In her little mind the best gift she could come up with was to give back to me what I valued, what I already owned.
While this was quite comical and cute to see Kayden miss the traditional concept our culture teaches us of how to give a good gift, I was ultimately struck with a powerful impression from the Holy Spirit. I felt the Lord whispering to me, “Brady, that’s what I long for you to do with me. It brings me great joy, my son, when you give back to me what is already mine.”
While the high pitched squeaky voice days of my daughter have long passed, I have often reflected on that moment along with the insight the Lord gave me. I think of this just about every time I lead our congregation in worship.
What God really desires in worship is for us to give back to Him what He already owns.
When we give of our tithes and offerings, they are already His! When we sing praise of His glory, we are declaring who He has always been, who He already is. It is not as if my praise and worship increase His net worth. It’s more of the Father being blessed by His children giving back to him what He already owns.
When our worship is unwrapped, raw and real…
When our worship is acknowledging, we don’t have much of anything to offer on our own…
When we come to grips with our fleshly inability to comprehend what God desires…
When we come as a child who takes what we have seen and heard our Father value and offer that to Him…
That’s when we enter into worship that moves the heart of God.
What are you giving to God in worship?
I invite you to go on a shopping spree for God.
The next time you give an offering, a tithe, a gift of you time or talent, view your gift as giving back to God what is already His.
The next time you sing a song of praise or give a testimony of His greatness, view your gift as giving back to God what He already owns.
Worship can be an adventure of searching for what He values, what He already owns and offering it back to Him as a gift.
Our Father longs to greet you with His ever-expanding smile, and His warm words of affirmation, “My daughter, my son, I love it! This is perfect!”
-Brady
One Comment on “Wrenches & Worship”
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Thank you for sharing, Brady, and to Kayden, for letting God to work through her to feed you. :).
I will never look at a wrench the same way. I might even have to display wrenches throughout as a reminder of these takeaways.
It’s like I’ve heard you all share in the past, it’s not as though Jesus needs anything from us, but oh what blessings it brings to our spirits to give to our loving Father.