JESUS LOVES ME, THIS I KNOW
Kendra Intihar
Today’s Scripture: “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” 1 John 3:1a, ESV
Theme: God thoroughly knows us and thoroughly loves us, not despite who we are, but because of it.
MY MARCH HARE
In every family with more than one child, it seems like there’s the calm, compliant, self-motivated, easy child…and then there’s the child that requires you to nail down furniture, pad walls, and apologize to neighbors on a regular basis. The first one gives you confidence, and the second one gives you humility.
I’m not trying to say that I have both of these “types,” in my home, but just kidding, I definitely do. My second-born is wild as a March hare. If you ever see me and wonder where my wrinkles and gray hair come from, please let me introduce you to him. He is clever, and hilarious, and enthusiastic about life, and full of love, and one of the most brilliant thinkers I’ve ever met. One time, he dug up our sweet neighbors’ burial marker for their beloved dog and planted it in our yard because “we really needed a yard cross!” Another time, he heard me say I wished we had a creek in the back yard, so he pulled out the water hose, turned it on, and let it run down our French drain, flooding the back yard for hours, unbeknownst to us. He was so proud. He was three. He announced to a throng of Target shoppers when he was six that, “MY MOMMY CAN’T HAVE ANY MORE BABIES BECAUSE THE DOCTOR TOOK OUT ALL THE PARTS YOU USE TO MAKE BABIES WITH.” He once referred to a little girl in his class – a first grader – as “a rare woman.”
KNOWN AND LOVED
I want you to know something: these are the stories that make this kid who he is. I love everything about the way he experiences life and the way he allows me to experience it through his eyes. I would not trade his wildness and wonder for anything in the world. I am so proud to be his mom. Nearly everyone who interacts with him sees him for the gift that he is. They see his charm, and they are entertained by his wit and enthusiasm.
Yet, every now and then, though, someone – usually an adult – comes along who just doesn’t understand him. They want every child to be my firstborn: calm, reasoned, centered, probably should be running the country, etc. Sometimes, those people are teachers, or camp counselors, or even family members. I have had to advocate for him a thousand times, and I will have to advocate for him a thousand more. Even though he doesn’t fully realize it yet, I’m in his corner and always will be. I won’t enable poor behavior, but I also won’t allow someone who doesn’t “get” him to squash his personality under the weight of their unrealistic expectations. No one knows him like I do. I know who he is, and I love him thoroughly because of it – not in spite of it.
BECAUSE HE KNOWS US THE MOST
In the movie “Wonder,” when Augie suggests that it doesn’t “count” that his mom doesn’t think he’s ugly because she’s his mom, I was moved to empathetic tears when his mom responded, “Because I’m your mom, it counts the most. Because I know you the most.” She knew intimately that Augie wasn’t ugly because she is the person who knows him best of all. I know intimately that my own children’s amazing personalities are beautiful because I know them better than anyone else.
I am so comforted and encouraged by this when I think of the way God must love me. And the way He must love you. If, as a parent, I am imperfect and messy, but I still desperately love my children and all their wonderful differences, then how much more must God love me? And you? And all of our many differences that people sometimes don’t understand?
Make It Personal: God’s love for us is without condition. In a culture where we must strive for everything, it’s so hard to understand a love freely given – a love that doesn’t require striving. We don’t have to be defined by anyone else because we aren’t who others say we are; we’re who God says we are. He knows us the most.
Pray: Father God, what a gift it is to be so thoroughly known and loved by You. What freedom it is to know that I don’t have to put on a show or hide my truest self in front of you. Thank you for seeing me and loving me. Let me see others the way you see them, so that I can love them the way You love them. In the life-giving Name of Jesus, I pray. Amen.
Read: John 7:24; 1 Peter 4:8; Psalm 103:17
Weekly Memory Verse: “Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7, NIV