A Cherry-picked spoon full of sugar

The beach wind blows; Red curls sways in the breeze as cherry drips from lips to sand...the stain of red forming a clown smile on this boy of ours.

This boy of ours, turning three...this boy who makes time stand still...this boy who was cherry-picked just for us for a time by the One who is time.

"In His love, He will rest in silent satisfaction."

We all make time stand still when we accept the love of the One who is both Alpha and Omega; I have accepted His love with this boy blessing who cannot be rushed.

I simply, I fully delight in this boy of ours...

A day later, we sit in the airport as Bird squawks over earphones. She marches over to Red curls and Blue-eyes demanding an exchange. "Mary Poppins" and her bag captivating them. Without hesitation, Red curls gallantly hands over his earphones as if they were keys to the Kingdom...this boy who is not easily won over...and, yet when he loves, he gives everything to honor another with fierce loyalty.

As the three settle into the singing bliss of "a spoon full of sugar helps the medicine go down," Red curls quietly looks at his prize possessions of brother and sister wrapping his arms around, pulling them closer.

The old familiar lump forms in my throat...the hard pill to swallow... the pill of this boy very possibly being our last...and yet, he is the sugar that makes that medicine go down.

I simply, I fully delight in this boy of ours...

Red curls, you are a cherry-picked spoon full of sugar, made by and for Him. We have delighted in you since the day of your birth; He has delighted in you since the beginning of time.

We couldn't love you more, but He does.

Happy 3rd Birthday, beautiful boy!

The Lord your God is in the midst of you, a mighty One, a Savior. He will take great delight in you. In His love, He will rest in silent satisfaction. He will rejoice over you with joyful singing.Zephaniah 3:17

Let Freedom Ring

"A bruised reed He will not break, and a smoldering wick He will not snuff out, till He leads justice to Victory." Matthew 12:20

Thick, hot summer air...red, ripe watermelon dripping down tender faces...tiny dancers running through firetruck waterworks...laughter and firecrackers lighting the air...

Banners of red, white, and blue...

Independence Day...

Let freedom ring...

But, from where does true freedom ring?

Independence (by definition) is when someone or something is free from the influence or control of another.

But if you are independent of someone or something, are you still not under the control of oneself?...

As Keller writes,"perhaps the most damaging statements that have ever been said about us are those things we have said about ourselves. Most have a never-ending loop of self-talk that berates them for being foolish, stupid, a failure, a loser."

Self can be a most viscious, fear-filled taskmaster, a place of distorted perception lacking Truth.

True freedom is always rooted in dependence. In total surrender to the One who gracefully waves His Banner of Love over us as He mercifully teaches us to glance at self and stare at Him.

Total surrender to the One who says, 'Come as you are, broken, messy, and bruised. Just come to me'...

Independence destroys intimacy, and transparency generates humility.

The opposite of self-anxiety is humility, and His humility paves the Way to our freedom.

Humility allows the One to shine His Light into our self-deprecating inner monologue replacing it with His Truth, 'You are redeemed, accepted, cherished, gifted, blessed beyond measure.'

"Spiritual maturity is more like returning to the embrace of the Father you have been missing than growing out of need for your father's presence and touch. Our posture toward God the Father is to be that of Christ in us: increasingly, simply, and humbly seeking to embrace him for all of who he is and to allow his heart to reform our hearts with his love." Richard R. Dunn

When true freedom rings, you no longer want to be an independent, just a slave to Christ...a steward of His grace-blessings...

When true freedom rings, you can no longer play it "safe" with your heart, but long to live dangerously...to love as He loves...

"Is he-quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion," said Lucy.

"That you will dearie, and no mistake," said Mrs. Beaver, "if there's anyone who can appear before Aslan without his knees knocking, they're either braver than most or else just silly."

"Then he isn't safe?" said Lucy.

"Safe?" said Mr. Beaver. "Don't you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you."C.S. Lewis, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wadrobe

This world is indeed a reckless world full of unimaginable pain and suffering, and yet when we stay in the seemingly "safe" confines of self, we find a reckless end.

True freedom is living dangerously for Him that we might see more of His unimaginable mercy, grace, and glory...

For He is not safe, but He is good and He has come to set the captives free...

Every day an offering to Him, to love as He loves

May He give me the faith-filled courage...

Let Freedom Ring...

The Other Spouse

"The kiss of daily, present communion, is that which we pant after to be repeated day after day...O lover of our souls, be not strange to us; let the lips of Thy blessing meet the lips of our asking; let the lips of Thy fullness touch the lips of our need, and straightway the kiss will be effected." Spurgeon

Father's Day morning, I awake to a mop of Red curls tickling my nose as tiny toes brush softly against his father's chest.

True to her early bird-nature, our Bird's brown eyes peer through tussled hair as she chirps from her roll-away bed perch.

Blue-eyes, our warrior boy, emerges from his closet cave in need of some wrestling.

I breathe in these three in a hotel room in Virginia, as I look to my "I do" man. In them, I cannot see where I begin and he ends; they are one flesh pointing to the Heavens displaying the divine mystery of us.

Each beautiful child giving me a larger picture of the man I love.

This man who began our story by choosing me has always understood that he married a woman with an untamed heart who longs to love hard and more often than not falls short; he has left space for the Lover of my soul, the other spouse...the Bridegroom.

And yet, my greatest lasting joys on this earth reside in the moments of refining relationship with this man as we love each other in His grace, with His Truth, and by His sacrifice, as we painfully lose more of ourself to gain more of Him...the mystery of one flesh...one flesh where I no longer see where I begin and he ends just more of our Father.

A marriage of three...this place where Red curls, Blue-eyes, and Bird get their first glimpses of worship within the body of Christ...our family...broken and messy in us; a divine mystery in Him.