Now I know...

What I've learned from the best daddy ever.

Well, really, it has nothing at all to do with Father's Day, except that he inspired these lessons and, in effect, me so let's just chalk it up to a great Father's Day post, shall we?

How Christian burst the happy bubble I lived in.

If you know my man at all, you know this. If he meets you, you are now his friend. Our family says that everywhere he goes, he has to make a friend. Like, he can't leave a conversation until a friend is made. This means that we might wait forty-five minutes in the car while he makes a friend with the cashier. Or the hostess. Or the guy in NYC selling homemade dvd's of his amazing "music".

We complain. Yes, we do. I've said it before, and I repeat it daily. I spend my life waiting for Christian.

But, his friendliness has changed folks' lives. He has impacted people around the world. He has made a difference. He thinks the best of folks whether they deserve it or not.

And, in turn, inspired his family to try to do the same.

Granted, we try to sum it all up and do in two minutes what he might need a half an hour for, but he really burst our little--stay-in-our-own-worlds--bubbles and taught each of us to reach out and make an effort in other people's lives. And, I'm proud to see it in my children, and even in myself every now and again.

I've learned that there is a song for every occasion. I mean every sentence. If he hears someone say, "It's a beautiful day!" he will (like clockwork) always sing a song by Bono. In fact, he is so known for it, that song is his ringtone.

My man can change any words he hears spoken into a song he recalls from various decades. It's fascinating what he's stored up in his brain. Sometimes I tease him for it. It's true. But, life is a bit easier with a song, is it not? And I can't tell you how many moods he's lightened.

The beat goes on. Life has its rhythms, and those rhythms take up residency in Christian's head. And they turn everything into complicated beats--on steering wheels and the back of my arm--or head.

His mind works in ways I couldn't repeat if my life depended on it. No matter how bad the day may be, the beat goes on. And a happy little rhythm ticks away and marks the time.

Strength wears different faces. Some days it is brute strength that can carry a tired, pregnant wife up a steep hill while pushing a stroller.

Other times, strength is holding up a weeping, broken wife who cannot stand on her own. Or standing in the way of a verbal rock being thrown. Or just taking "that phone call."

And it may just look like a man in tears as he prays for his children to know the love of his God the way he does.

Whatever shape it's wearing on any given day, when I think of strength, I picture a guy who embodies it every day in a million ways. And I am grateful.

Happy Daddy's Day to all those guys who hold our worlds up and make them keep spinning the right way; who make us smile and hold our hands and those of the little punkins they stand as a models for.

Because of mine, I know what love looks like...

 

Extravagance

I'm lying in my hammock right now on a stunningly beautiful summer afternoon. The birds are singing their happy little bird songs. The air smells like freshly cut grass and the white pine I am lounging under. The air is so warm that even this usually cold, sun-loving girl is perfectly content in the shade. All I hear is the buzz of a bug nearby, and the gentle breeze as it tickles the new leaves in the woods that create my view. To have this moment makes me feel so loved.

All morning my heart felt so quietly worshipful. I put on my music as I drove over a hundred miles on my Thursday morning errands, and two songs came on that spoke of extravagant love. Though those particular words have never processed in my brain before, today I heard them twice before noon. Extravagant Love.

I am in awe of a God Who gives and takes away, and all the while loves extravagantly.

Let me explain.

Two families I know have had major life crises recently. One family faced a medical diagnosis that rocked their world and left them reeling. After many weeks, the husband and father was relieved to hear his story isn't ending quite yet.

Just yesterday, another family suddenly and tragically lost its husband and father. Their world will simply never be the same.

I lie here in my hammock contemplating how these two families have the potential--through the worst life has to offer--to know more than ever the extravagant love of God lavished upon them.

Extravagant--Exceeding reasonable bounds

Lavish--Expended or produced in abundance

Many would say, I'm sure, that a loving God would never allow these things to happen to His children. It's a deep discussion that cuts to the core. For all of time wounded hearts have questioned His love based on circumstances.

I don't have anything all figured out, but this is what I know deep in my spirit that no one can ever take from me. I wasn't created and given my life on this earth for my own happiness. There are most certainly blissful moments of it, but my happiness is not my purpose.

I was created to fit perfectly into a plan that draws me, and those around me, safely and securely like a puzzle piece nestled into the heart of God. All that has happened to me until the day I leave this world has been and will be to help me hear His voice more clearly and draw me closer to Him. My purpose is so much bigger than this life. My joy, my pain, my sorrow, my success is all about knowing Him more. It's up to me how quickly I learn the lessons.

There was a song by Ginny Owens that was popular several years ago that really hit me hard. I used to quite boldly sing this song, and it is powerful. So powerful, in fact, that I think God took me up on it.

It goes back to the power of words. I've posted quite a bit about it--here for instance where I tell the story about how my family got sick after singing words from a song.

We, as a family take our words very seriously. Remember that song, "Be careful little mouth what you say"? The rest of it says, "For the Father up above is looking down in love, so be careful little mouth what you say." He's not waiting to pounce on us for saying the wrong thing, but since He first created the world with the very words He spoke, He gave words power and it's up to us how we use them. They can be used for our good or we can use them against ourselves.

So, can I just ask you to listen to what you're saying and singing?

Back to Ginny. Click here to listen.You see, it was as I told God that I was willing to go through any trial if it would draw me closer to Him, that He gently took me by the hand and walked me through the valley of the shadow of death. Through some very dark moments and unusual circumstances, I lost both of my parents within six months of each other. In that same time frame, Christian and I were brought to a place of surrender in our lives and in our marriage that taught us in a way we can never forget about the extravagant love of God.

Would I go through it again? In one way, that's tough to say. In fact as I heard those words again today in the song, I hesitated before I was willing to sing them. That stove He let me touch so I would learn was hot! And I learned!

In another way, all I want is more--more of the clear vision deep in my very soul that knows how loved I am.

When I was in school, I had a teacher (Christian school, remember?) tell the class that when we heard that someone else was going through something tragic, that in our hearts we shouldn't ever feel relieved that it wasn't us, but rather we should wish it was us, since we know God well enough and could handle it better than that person could.

Wow.

I can't wrap my head around that thinking. I find in it some major flaws. But you can't help but wonder (can you?) when you hear of someone's suffering, how you would handle it.

I have had days when it felt like darkness had settled on me like a blanket. Days when it felt like my tears never dried up. There are songs for those moments. Words that I would whisper aloud because I had no others. Words of praise. Words of life. Even if my voice would be shaky, my heart was confident that I was loved no matter the circumstance.

I am nowhere near perfect, but my roots go deep. I love the verse that says,

But blessed is the man who trusts me, God, the woman who sticks with God. They're like trees replanted in Eden, putting down roots near the rivers—Never a worry through the hottest of summers, never dropping a leaf, serene and calm through droughts, bearing fresh fruit every season.

There are definitely times when I fret and question and wrestle. But He's a big enough God to wrestle with! He can definitely handle everything I bring to the mat!

Christian said today that if he and I are talking and he asks a question of me, he is really caring about my response if he waits to hear my answer.

Ever talk to someone who doesn't even wait to hear what your asking before they give their answer? These folks just want to be heard. They don't really care to hear the answer.

He said that some people approach God, in the wrestling, with that attitude. As if they already have the answers.

Some, however, are seekers waiting to know what He says so they can know how to respond.

So, go ahead and ask God the tough questions. But do it when you really want to hear His answer, not just because you already have your mind made up with what you have to say.

When was the last time you were lavished upon with something extravagant? Ever?

I can honestly say that the only time in my life I have known extravagance, is this love I've found.

Just so you know, it's right there waiting for you, too.