Eila has a new thing she likes to do. And like many toddlers, she likes to do it over and over again.
It started this past week. She brought me a card she found in a stack of papers and other things that needed to be sorted. It happened to be the Valentine’s Day card that Will and I gave her this year, one with a little cat holding a basket (she loves cats- all animals, really). Anyway, she asked me to read it to her, so I did. Then she asked me to read it to her again, and then again. It honestly got a little frustrating to read it over and over, but then I noticed something. As I read the personal little messages from her father and I, her smile grew increasingly wider. Both Will and I had written how sweet she is and how much we love her and value her. She couldn’t get enough of it, and after I would read each message, Eila would say “Mommy wrote “you” that” and “Daddy wrote “you” that” (you=me). And then she would ask for it to be read aloud again, with little giggles and eyes twinkling.
She has been doing that the past few days now.
I was thinking about this the other day, as I watched her face light up yet again as we looked at the card, and I had a sudden realization. I realized how, like that card, God has a message for us that He wants us to delight in hearing. A message that is also full of love and of how valuable He finds us. A message that is sealed into His Word. Why I initially found it slightly irritating to hear “again”, “again” from my child, God wants us, His children, to cry out that very thing. Because He delights in telling us of His love. He wants us to seek Him, to read the words He has for us. And not only that, but He wants us to know that His message left the perfection of heaven and became flesh and dwelt among us. And loved us so much that that same Message died for us, for all the bad things we have ever done and will ever do, and rose again. And in dying and rising again that third day, our sin was defeated. Death was defeated, because the penalty for our sins was death. For God’s word isn’t only found in the Bible, but also in the person of Jesus. But we have to accept Jesus as our Savior. He already is…He saved us. The gift has been offered. We have to choose to accept it, and invite Him to be the Lord of our life.
God our Father delights in seeing our eyes light up with pleasure and our faces break into wide smiles as the truth of His love is realized. Like the delight in seeing the face of a child learning each day of her parents’ love.
May you all be hit with the beautiful realization of His love for you today– Happy Easter!
“But I have trusted in your steadfast love; my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.” ~Psalm 13:5
Dancing in the Mundane 