By Peter Hallett
Published July 1, 1997
My youngest son has just given a world class performance as a prawn in his school concert.
As a completely unbiased parent, I was deeply moved by the rendition which I thought brought new meaning to the words decapod crustacean.
Without actually speaking a word, his performance stood out as a shimmering light in the world of theatre and will no doubt go down as one of the more famous prawn adaptations in world history.
(I was left with a warm inner glow, not unlike the one experienced when you manage to get every last piece of cutlery and crockery and appliance in the dishwasher so that there is absolutely nothing left to wash up. People travel miles to see me stack a dishwasher. However, I am diverted.)
My older children, likewise, gave heart-rending performances in their respective plays and for a moment names like "the Partridge Family" and "the Jackson Five" flashed through my thinking.
But then I noticed a strange phenomenon. Every other parent there (and yea verily, the place was packed) was similarly enraptured with the presence of their own children own stage.
Actually, this is not surprising to any of us and scenes like this are repeated a million times over in every conceivable culture on earth (even Fisher and Pickyl) commercials on television…)
It is just one small expression of the unfathomable love parents have for their children. Equally amazing is the resolute love and respect children have for their parents despite all our blunders. All parents will have experienced the desperate longing of our children to be with us, to be like us and to be loved by us.
It is no wonder then, that if these powerful forces are interfered with, breached or polluted, that they create such havoc in society. We only have to think of the constant stream of family tragedy that sifts across our television screens to be reminded of this.
And of course we are all familiar with reports of orphaned children in the past who failed to thrive and even died despite receiving everything they needed in the way of food, clothing and shelter. Their fatal lack was human warmth and kindness.
It seems to me that if our ancestry was really nothing more than self-existent matter becoming more complex, then food, clothing and shelter would be more than enough to make us completely happy.
And yet perfectly well fed and clothed people take their own lives every day and others experience a range of other difficulties because of the unmet and unrecognised longings in the human heart.
Rather than just an endless stream of chemicals, I see the mark upon us of a God who and made us in his image. A God who by his very nature is a God of relationship, community and friendship.
As hard as it is for the human mind to comprehend, the image of the triune God of the Bible (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) - three separate personalities but one substance - is easily seen in our small frame.
Just as God has eternally enjoyed relationship, love and the beauty of acceptance, value and belonging, so to we exhibit the same capacities and the same needs.
The problem with less divine views is that they turn people away from healing the brokenness of their lives with those things that would really help. Instead they seek material resolution only to be constantly left thirsty.
Today, look past the dust and begin to value those things about you and others that really have the potential to bring peace and happiness. And with God’s restorative help, his image can be brought to life once again within us.