PSALM 84

So today I said I love you.  This relates to an earlier post I wrote . A child came up to me recently and declared her love for me. I felt my insides stiffen. No really. What do I do with love? And do I have to give it back? How does this work? Wait, does she have to earn it first? Has it been long enough?  These questions may sound strange but the way I have thought about love since childhood has been strange. The idea of love being something that is freely given, perhaps never retracted? Mind blowing! Three years ago God ministered to me BW42. God is love. God has made us, so we are made by love. The Trinity was involved in the process, so we are made with love. God has made us for love, as people who are designed to receive love. AND God  has made us to love! BW42: By love, with love, for love,  How beautiful to be created to love other people! But the work I have had to do over the last few years to have capacity to love has been a doozy! And the work is still go...

  I actually intended to write this post, when the previous post tumbled out onto the page instead. This incident happened just the other night. I was with one of my 7 year olds and she wanted to play Chutes and Ladders. When we took the game down, it required the set up of a new game. I arranged the parts and tasked her with assembling the game while I went to the restroom. Upon my return she had successfully set up the spinner and 4 playing pieces. However, that is not where my eyes or mind gravitated. Instead I saw the pieces still attached to the plastic making it look like the game set up was incomplete. Thankfully the Holy Spirit showed me myself before the words of criticism could fully leave my lips. I praised her for the excellent set up, and realized that what looked incomplete was actually irrelevant to the game. She loved playing the game and demanded to play again the next night.  The lesson is that I can easily damage others with a perfectionistic mentality. Stil...