Supernatural Exchange

I've noticed over the years (the more recent ones to be more precise) that time being with Jesus translates into more hours in the day, better rest and an increase in energy for "life stuff" (i.e. chasing kids, changing diapers and making a gazillion meals a week, to name a few). Though it has taken awhile to figure this out, I have learned that when I am feeling particularly tired and low on energy, I need to consider when I most recently was deliberate to hang out with Jesus. I don't really know how it works, but it's pretty wild to think that a supernatural relationship translates into such tangible "natural" consequences. And at the same time, I want to be with Him because I love Him so much! Really, when you think about it, God makes it rather easy to learn to be dependent on Him. For me, through that increasing reality of dependency has run an ever deepening river of love for my Daddy. However, I wish that my original motivation for being with Jesus, once I fully committed my life to Him, was this intimate love that I now know.

Children, it seems, are born lovers (of course, they are made in the image of The Greatest Lover of all time!). Their desire to love and be loved is played out in a wide variety of habits and behaviors, verbal and non-verbal. The younger they are, the more easily they love and forgive, anyone and everyone. As a mom, I am trying hard to channel this God-given ability into a reckless love for Jesus. I don't want to pass along what was passed to me: the stigma of Christianity to "spend time with God everyday, praying and reading the Word" just because that's what Christians do. Instead, I want to give them a model of such deep abiding love for Jesus, that they can't help but hunger to know Him more, searching out whatever resources are available to understand every facet of Him. Before I married my husband, I looked forward each day to every bit of contact I could have with him, in whatever form. I didn't have to force myself to schedule in time for him because I knew it was the "right" thing to do as a fiance'. Only prior commitments and urgent responsibilities could keep me from being with him. And even then, nothing could keep my thoughts and prayers from being with him all the time! My heart had been captured by this amazing man who was to become my husband.

It makes me curious to think what my life would be like today had I known this intimacy when I first met my Daddy. That's neither here nor there. This is where I am now and I am absolutely determined, relentless, in fact, to make myself and our home available to the powerful, loving presence of Jesus, The Only One who can reveal His passionate love for His kids - and mine!