I spent some precious time with my granddaughter (L), son, daughter-in-law, and husband yesterday walking around a downtown neighborhood. It was a gorgeous day with sunshine and higher-than-normal temperatures. The kind of day that called for ice cream, walks, and playground playing. So we did all of the above.

The playground area we encountered wasn’t much…just a few plastic logs and big mushroom shapes to climb on. Since my beautiful granddaughter is only 2-and-a-half, I carefully helped her climb up, keeping her sweet little hand in mine the whole time. But she’s a brave little thing, and once she mastered moving from object to object, she became less and less tentative. But her hand stayed attached to mine. Neither one of us was willing to let go.

Once she had made it to the highest point (about 3 feet off the ground), she smiled and basked in the glory of the “You did it!” affirmations she heard from all of us. Then Grandma would swoop her up and twirl her around before setting her feet safely on the worn mulch padding of the little play area. And I would hear, “Again!” So we did it again and again and again. I was happy to make her happy. That’s what grandmas do.

Grandma and little L holding hands, climbing up, working her way from object to object, getting to the high point, and swooping off in swirls of giggles. Soon it wasn’t enough to just have Grandma’s undivided attention. We needed everyone to focus on her accomplishments. So the chorus of “Watch, Daddy!” sounded almost before Grandma’s swirling, twirling touch down.

“Watch, Daddy!” and then “Watch, Mama!” and then “Watch, Grandpa!”

“I’m watching, baby,” confirmed Daddy…or Mama…or Grandpa, depending on which one was being called out. But she wanted to make sure.

“Are you watching me? Are you seeing me climb high? Did you watch me flying through the air? Is your attention focused on me?”

I couldn’t help but hear my own children repeating those same words when they were young. And I’m sure I did it too. We all want others to see our accomplishments and celebrate with us. And sometimes, others are looking away, or concentrating on whatever caught their attention for a moment. Honestly, we can’t expect people to be watching us 24/7, waiting for our next big moment. But…we kind of do, don’t we?

And then I remembered. We have Someone who never looks away…not even for a moment. He sees us reach the top, He watches each step, He holds our hand, He celebrates our accomplishments and mourns with us through grief and failure.

God will never leave us or forget us. He doesn’t get distracted or need to divide His attention with someone else’s problem or issue. He can pay attention to us and everyone else all at the same time!

Parents (and grandparents) do all they can to protect, provide, affirm, and celebrate, but they are only human and can’t be everywhere at once. But God can…and does. He knows what you need before you know it…and will hold your hand as you climb higher and celebrate with you all your big and little wins. Just call out to Him.

“Watch, Daddy!”