A little girl and her father packed up snacks, drinks, and chairs and headed to the parade route. The people had arrived way ahead of time and already were sitting three rows deep. The father, being an experienced parade goer and very much a child at heart, knew the best seats were not taken. The child, however, was getting more and more dejected by the minute. The father could see the disappointment on his daughter's face but smiled at her and told her to trust him she would see the parade in style.
As the time grew nearer, she became more and more anxious that she wouldn't get a good seat. She pulled on her father's jacket and said she was going to the front because she saw a space on the street curb. The father asked if she was sure because he had a spot all picked out. She was getting desperate and nodded quickly and started pushing toward the front. As she was leaving, the father called out to say the spot will always be open if she changed her mind. She waved her hand to tell him she heard him.
The parade was wonderful. It was more colorful than they had imagined. Candy was thrown and faces were painted and clowns made balloon animals and turned somersaults and the band drums were felt through everyone's toes up to their stomachs. The child had a front-row seat.
But she was squished and jostled and elbowed and yelled at and candy was taken away because there were so many other children looking for attention. She was getting hot and the street was dusty and smelled from the exhaust, horses, and tires. She wasn't able to see everything as she watched legs go by and the bottoms of floats and undercarriages of cars.
As the parade was winding down, she pushed her way back to her father who was waiting, watching her carefully. He held out his hands to her and lifted her up to his shoulders and she found, there, in all its glory, was the parade. She had a shoulder seat, protected from all the greed and attention-getters. She was high up to see the tops of the floats and the glorious decorations. She was able to see the instruments of the bands and the beautiful faces of the people instead of just their legs. She could see the smiles of the riders as they pranced on the horses. She waved to the people in the cars and trucks and even caught some of the candy they threw at her! She felt the wind blow in her face as she saw all the flags fluttering and streamers flying.
She hugged her dad tightly and whispered, "Thank you", and was glad to have a strong father who knew what she needed the most.
2 Timothy 2:22
