Our Heavenly Father
POPS
Last week I got a call from my dad. He was checking in to see how I was doing preparing for finals. For an hour we chatted about school, work, and various things in our day.
My dad and I are really close. I call him Pops. We communicate frequently through texting or calling. We laugh together a lot. He often offers words of encouragement and council when I share about my struggles. These things help remind me that he loves me and will always be there for me.
GOD
Thinking about my dad caused me to start thinking about my Heavenly Father and the relationship that I have with Him. I know that my Pops is loving, kind, caring, and willing to offer me support and guidance, but who is our Heavenly Father? And if the scriptures say, “or what man is thee of you who, if his son ask bread, will give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish will he give him a serpent? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your father who is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” (3 Nephi 14:9-10)
Three words that sum up the essence of our Father in Heaven are these: Omniscient (all knowledgeable), Omnipotent (all powerful), and Omnipresent (present everywhere through His spirit). He knows all things in the past, present, and future. This Eternal Being, the creator of the Universe and of everything within, has all knowledge, all power, and is ever-present. Its hard for me to comprehend the magnitude of His love, and His attention to detail. And that detail applies to each of us. He knows what we have need for, and wants to give us all things.
A DIVINE RELATIONSHIP
“But even though man is nothing, it fills me with wonder and awe to think that ‘the worth of souls is great in the sight of God.’” — Elder Uchtdorf
I am constantly amazed that the God who created the universe, and everything that in them is, is so personally involved with each of our lives.
No greater sign of this is the ability we have to pray. If He did not love us, we could not pray to Him and receive answers. In the Family a Proclamation to the World it says that we all knew and worshipped God as our Eternal Father. (Family Proclamation) Father is a word that has come to describe so many things. God, the Father to some is a removed deity with power and full of jealousy. To others, God, the Father is simply a power, a force that binds us all into a sort of ‘family’. And to me, God, the Father, is more than just a being of power, a force and source of family. He is a Father to me.
He is in every way my Heavenly Dad, Father, Pops. A guide, loving mentor, caring friend. A father is more than just a distantly removed character. My Father is someone I know, love dearly, and who I seek guidance and approval from.
THE WAY TO HIM
Heavenly Father loves us so much. And because of that love, he as given us diverse ways to access the power he possesses to help us through this trial of existence. He has given us ways to connect with Him through prayer, personal revelation, and the process of repentance.
Prayer is more of a conversation than a worshiping. Sometimes, I kneel, open formally, use the correct terminology for Him, and list my gratitudes. More often than not, as I walk to class or as I sit waiting for an appointment, I sit and start talking to him much like I would a true friend. I feel him listening, nodding along as He listens to the details about my day and the struggles and thoughts that I had throughout the day. Its moments like that, that help me realize what President Benson said, “Nothing is going to startle us more when we pass through the veil to the other side than to realize how well we know our Father and how familiar his face is to us.”
I know that much like our fathers here on earth, our Heavenly Father loves, supports, and guides us. I am grateful for the opportunities we have to get to know Him and grow closer to Him.