For the past year, Oldest Daughter and I have been meeting together once a week for bible study and discipleship. We've read and discussed books like Beautiful Girlhood, A Young Woman After God's Own Heart, Raising Maidens of Virtue, Crazy Love, Do Hard Things and Before You Meet Your Prince Charming. We've also studied character qualities and disciplines like love, diligence, purity, stewardship, time management, prayer, wisdom, and evangelism using the Doorposts book Polished Cornerstones.
We have had good talks and we've had hard talks. We've both shed tears and we've been convicted over sin in our lives. It's been a time of accountability and growth for both of us, but it's intentionally been a time of intense mentoring. I have purposefully challenged her in her walk with the Lord. I've encouraged her to fall deeply in love with the Him....to love Him with her whole heart, soul, mind and strength.
As I sat across from her this morning, I was overtaken with the moment. My heart was full as she began to retell what she had read this week in Crazy Love. She shared of her heart's desire to love the Lord more, and I instinctively got a lump in my throat and had to hold back the tears of joy. I marveled at the young lady that she is becoming. And, in my mother's heart, I thought she was absolutely beautiful as she talked. I tried to capture the moment so that I could remember it forever.
And then it hit me....
God must feel this way about us. He loves us like crazy....even more than a mother loves her daughter. Is it really possible that He feels this way? Is it possible that He looks down upon us and thinks we're beautiful in our growth? He knows all our faults and failures. He knows us better than we know ourselves - just like we know our children. And yet, He loves us like crazy.
Oldest Daughter is not perfect. She has faults and failures. She has tendencies to be selfish and impatient and unkind at times. She gets mad at her brother and bosses her sister. Yet I love her like crazy. She's mine and, to me, she's beautiful. She's full of repentance and a desire to grow closer to the Lord. That makes her even more beautiful.
Does this perhaps mirror our relationship with Jesus? He loves us and cares for us and knows us. He sees our sin, but He also sees our beauty......not beauty on the outside, but the pure beauty of hearts that seek after Him and long to love Him more. Might He sit across from us in Spirit and take a long look at us and enjoy who we are becoming in Him? Oh, I hope so.
I have cherished my time with my daughter this past year. I wouldn't trade our time for anything. She has done her part to read and be prepared and make time for our relationship. God expects no less from us.....
"...so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God." Colossians 1: 10
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