Happy Loving Day!

Last week my six year old stood beside our school room table with his arms behind his back. He asked, "Mommy, when is Happy Loving Day?"

"Happy what?"

"Happy Loving Day?"

It took me a moment to realize he meant Valentine's Day. "Oh, that's coming up very soon."

"Here, Mommy." He handed me a sweet handmade Valentine: a red heart pasted on white paper which said I love my mom, from Brenner. Then he gave me a great big bear hug.

Ah.....I hang onto moments like that, because it wasn't but a few days before, that this same boy was yelling.........

"I DON'T LIKE YOU, MOMMY!!! I WISH I DIDN'T LIVE IN THIS HOUSE!!!"

I've never before had one of my children say those words to me, except this one. And unfortunately, it is a pattern for him.

I was prepared for this, though I was sure it would NEVER happen to me. I mean really, why would a child whom I carried for 38 weeks, cared for with all of my heart, cherished with all of my soul....why would my child ever dream of saying anything like that!

A few years ago, a couple of ladies at church had a class based on the book, "Discovering Your Child's DQ Quotient." It's a personality book that does a good job of describing four personality types (with the understanding that there's always overlap and no one person is exactly like another). The four groups were appropriately labeled by animals: the bear, the porcupine, the monkey, and the lamb.

The monkey was described, among other positive things, as the child who may choose to use his words to hurt others. This was the child that would be more prone to name calling and saying things that could break a mother's heart. Though I knew Brenner was my little monkey, I was sure that this particular behavior would never arise.....until that dreadful day several months ago when the first words, "I HATE YOU!!" came from his lips. Thankfully, we've nipped those hateful words from his vocabulary, but he still has his moments....typically after he doesn't get what he wants, or he's disciplined for bad behavior. That's when the "I don't like you" or "I wish I didn't live in this house" comments arise.

So, though I was prepared that something like this could happen.....I lived in denial that it actually would happen.....and.....it happened. And I was not prepared for the hurt my heart would feel from it.

So, I keep my little Brenner's Valentine next to my homeschool desk to remind myself that it is my job to love this boy no matter what he says, no matter what he does, no matter how I feel in the moment.

I wonder, is that what God does? Does He hold onto the thanksgiving, praise, and adoration that I give him when things are going well in my life.....to remind Him that it is His job to love me no matter what I say and no matter what I do when I fail Him? No, God loves me in spite of what I say and in spite of what I do. But still, each one of my failings has caused Him pain. Pain that He suffered through His son, Jesus Christ.

So instead of a handmade Valentine sitting next to His desk, God has His resurrected Son sitting at the right hand of His throne. And His Son is daily interceding for me.....He is daily interceding for you......He is daily interceding for my son.....He is daily interceding for us.

Now that's love.

Happy Loving Day!

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I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better. I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. Eph. 1:17-21

But because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent priesthood. Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them. Hebrews 7:24,25

The Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will. Romans 8:26-27.