Since posting that ‘apples to apples’ article, I have been really convicted about love, not just the thought, but the fruit. I think past wounds and angers show up in these blogs, but like Roosevelt’s critic quote, anyone can point fingers, anyone can show how a man stumbles, but how to fight better? I have no idea.
In our “First loved, to love” training led by Mark Fee, we have been personalizing verses that communicate how much God loves us. I find it hard to understand. In the ‘smokin’ crack’ blog I compared US, meaning me, to having diaper rash from sitting in the pews and whining. How could God DELIGHT in us?
We are supposed to be doing ‘God sightings’ where we see God daily trying to show his love for us, and usually my God sighting is Linnea (my wife). Or Sequioa (our mastiff)- a dog sighting? Do I cease to delight in Sequioa when she has stuffed herself with horse manure or otherwise stinks? No. But she needs to be clean before she can hop on my lap, so with this sighting, I kind of get God still loving us even when we stink, but we need to be clean first.
Then I watched one of the women in our small group (Jan) with her son (Noah), and realized how much she and her husband (Mark) delight in that baby, even with the diaper full. They even seem to delight in changing the diaper!
So all of this, I hope motivates me to stop being so critical of myself, life around me, and the ‘church’, although I can’t guarantee what tomorrows mood brings, I just hope the stuff I write here would actually come from a spot of love, since God loves me, even with my diaper full.
