“God doesn’t need us to serve Him as a means to attain His love or affection.  He wants us to serve him out of the love and affection he already holds for us in his heart.  If you have never tasted that reality, you cannot imagine the freedom that lies ahead of you.  My Father brought me to the place where I realized that even if I never preached another sermon, never counseled another person, never led someone to Christ again, he would still delight in me as his child.
“That doesn’t mean he approves of everything I do, but he has freed me to know that he loves me–absolutely and completely.  I had served God for thirty-four years, always with an undercurrent of trying to earn his favor.  It has only been in the last twelve that I’ve learned to live in that favor, and I’m never going back.
“That’s when it became clear.  It is not the fear of losing God’s favor that takes us to the depth of fellowship with him and transforms our lives with his holiness.  It is our certainty of knowing his unrelenting love for us, even in the midst of our weakness and failure, that leads us to the fullness of his life.
“Fear had never taken me to the depths of his life or his transforming power; discovering his delight has.  I now know that the key to God’s favor doesn’t rest on what I give him but on what he has already given me.
“He delights in you, too.  Can you see him that way, exalting and dancing with joy over you?  Are you afraid you can’t offer him enough to make him notice you?
“Then come with me and let me show you something.  He doesn’t delight in you because of your deeds or your gifts.  He delights in you simply because you are his.  The Lord your God is with you….He will take great delight in you.”

He Loves Me, by Wayne Jacobsen, page 58

It’s spring break and the weather is lovely.  We spent most of yesterday outside, but did a little shopping, too.  I needed a new crock pot, after all.

These are the four that went with me.  We went to the coffee shop and they each received a soda to enjoy, while I had a chai tea latte.

Then we went to visit some cats. (Grace is cat-sitting for her boyfriend).

Target.

At this point I was getting grumpy.  But I got my 7 quart crock pot.

After eating bananas and sugar snap peas we started to perk up again.

We drove home.

playing Star Wars (also Sarah asked me if she had enough hair for three buns)

reflection

David threw a worm in the pond for the fish, which swirled and twirled to get it.

a friendly but cautious fish

too cold, way too cold

“Can we watch a princess movie tomorrow?”

all tired out.

It was a busy day and several of us got slight sunburns.

Little children, sweet and lovely
Buds from Heaven sent to earth!
Let us love them, teach them, guide them,
Fill their lives with joy and mirth…
Looking up with eyes of laughter,
Holding out their tiny hands;
Bless these little ones, oh, Master!
Precious children of all lands!
~Gertrude Tooley Buckingham, “Little Children” (1940s)