A Mother's Love

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!"  1 John 3:1a

Recently, a couple of incidents involving our older daughter, Lauren, and her softball really sparked an understanding of God's love for me, His child. 

First I have to post a disclaimer that the two incidents really do seem to contrast each other, but hey, nobody's perfect!  The first one involves paying Lauren for her awesome performance, and the second is understanding that my love for Lauren isn't dependent upon her performance... conflicting I know!

So the first "a-ha" came as I was handing Lauren the last dollar bills out of my wallet for her amazing homerun and extraordinary catch in the outfield.  It was going to be a few days before any more money would be deposited into our account, but I handed that cash over to her with great joy.  It was such a pleasure giving her the last of what I had, what I was counting on for a lunch date with a friend, and what seemed like precious cash.  It dawned on me as Mike and I were struggling that this is exactly how happy the Lord is to lavish His blessings upon His children.  Those blessings come in so many different forms, but the joy HE gets from heaping gifts upon His children is magnified from what we experience here on Earth.  Of course, the greatest gift is in the gift of His Son so we can have eternity with Him where there are no concerns, frets, anxieties, sadness, fears, disappointments as we experience it here on Earth. 

The second sweet moment came in the midst of a disappointing game for Lauren.  She had a rough game where some pivotal moments just did NOT go her way. She was so down on herself and was blaming herself for so much.  (She has pretty high expectations for herself, and is really tough on herself.  This is for sure an area we work on with her.)  As I watched my daughter's shoulders slump, her eyes brimming with tears, her confidence completely gone, and her hope diminishing, I kept thinking, "Lauren, if only you could see my heart and how much it adores you.  I don't care how you perform.  My love for you is unchanging!"  It then seemed as though the Lord was saying the same things to me, "Kim, I have never cared how well you perform. I love you always!  I love you the SAME always!  My love for you is unconditional.  I loved you enough to die for you when you didn't even know me." 

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us!