Love is Messy

It would have been quite a sight if I had been called to the door (let’s face it; I wouldn’t have gone). Last Tuesday here I was hands in the dish pan when out of the corner of my eve I spied my toddler push a gallon of paint down the basement steps. Despite my loud exclamation and dive to retrieve, I witnessed the tumble down each stair and as luck would have it, the top lid flipped off and liquid,thick red splattered to and fro down carpeted steps and on walls and ceiling and a variety of toys as it went.

The cute little guy looked curiously but not with any particular regret. Really, he had just been curious right? And his curiosity about what would happen if he pushed this big tin had indeed been sated.

So to minimize further damage, I simply lifted Peter upstairs to his sleepy siblings,took off my clothes and proceeded to wipe off those yellow walls before the red began to dry. And I was somewhat successful.The carpet, well, that is a lost cause to be sure!

This minor household disaster even beat my exploding squash for dire consequences. Of course, had it not been myself who opened the oven that held the hot commodity but one of my children, perhaps the splattering that covered the kitchen and was found by bits and pieces even up to months later would have been injurious to them. Thanks for small mercies every day.

And seeing the curiosity and impishness of my little guy and how much he delights us; I think about how our Heavenly Father delights in all of us. Oh, not that we don’t mess up because of course we do…but if we love our little (and big) ones to the extent that nothing they ever do could separate our love from them, how much more does Perfection love us beyond all imagining?

A comforting thought to this mom. What a blessing to be a parent and experience even a smidgen of what it is like to love unconditionally. As Christians, we have such an example to follow, Jesus who gave His life for His brothers and sisters. I can be more patient and attempt to practice more virtue if I only think about how my Heavenly Father parents me. It also means that no longer must even my own parents or grandparents need to be perfect because I know I am perfectly loved by one who truly created me.

We are instructed as Christians to strive to be perfect as is our Heavenly Father. In this message for me is a reminder of my responsibility to make sure my children have a personal relationship with that perfect parent…who is Mary, Jesus, and the Father. Although I strive, human nature means until I get to heaven striving is all I can manage. But the perfect family already has created, loved and saved my child. Through my dependence on the Holy Spirit, my goal is to make sure all my children learn to know this wonderful Truth that can sets us all free.