“Hey Dad, Do You Have a Minute?”

It has been said that communication is the foundation of healthy relationships. If you love being a dad as much as I do, learning to communicate with your children is a work in progress. Just when you think you have arrived, you discover the destination has been moved. When your children are little, you learn that not every cry or whimper means the same thing. As they mature, it only becomes more complicated — or does it?

You learn to decipher eye rolls, contorted body language, and even words that make no sense unless you understand the "second language." The first time I heard "it is so fire," "she is capping again," or "he is so fly!" I was as confused as chameleon in a bowl of Skittles!

It makes me wonder if this is what the disciples felt like when Jesus explained why he used parables to communicate in Matthew 13. "Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand."

If we don't seek to understand, communication with our kids can be extremely difficult, but nothing warms a dad's heart more than hearing, "Dad, can you help me?" or "Do you have a minute to talk?"

As children mature, those words translate to "Hey Dad, are you busy?" Understanding this is code for "I need you," I've learned to intently focus when my son or daughter opens a conversation with that phrase.

Last year, my daughter was studying for a final and fell asleep, spilling coffee all over her computer. When I received her frantic call at around 4:00am, I was relieved to learn that it was only a laptop and not something more serious. After reassuring her that everything on the device was backed up and fully accessible in the cloud, she calmed down and reminded me that I always knew how to make things better.

Then, there was the time my phone rang at 2:00am, "Hey Dad, are you busy, or were you sleeping?" This time, my daughter had mistyped her password too many times while using her debit card, triggering a security protocol that suspended its use. Unfortunately, she was at a restaurant with her friends and needed to pay the bill. So, I reminded her of the emergency fund hidden in her car.

My favorite was just this past week, when she called to ask, "Dad, do you have a minute, or are you busy?" My typical answer is, "I always have time for you sweetheart. What do you need?" It turns out that when she was parking at the gym, someone was double parked, and she scraped that person's car attempting to fit into the space. This solution was a bit more complicated, but at least the call wasn't after midnight this time.

I suspect our Lord feels the same way when we bring our troubles to him. In Matthew 6:34, we are told not to worry about tomorrow because today has enough troubles of its own. In 1 Peter 5:7, we are told to cast all our anxiety (cares) on him because he cares for us.

I wonder if our Lord enjoys us coming to him with the same question, "Do you have a minute for me?" The answer to this question can be found throughout the Bible including Isaiah 62, "For the Lord delights in you and will claim you as his bride."