THE BOX: Jesus
“May you experience the love of Christ,
though it is so great you will never fully understand it.
Then you will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God.”
I grew up in an era of socialized Christianity. If you were an American you were a Christian. I was a Christian because I wasn’t Buddhist or Muslim or Hindu or anything else.
And I knew God loved me. Of course He did, after all I was a good girl and we all knew with unassailable certainty that God loves good girls.
Then one day our family of five stumbled upon a church with a traffic jam leading into the parking lot every Sunday. Curious, we all dressed up in our Sunday best, piled into our Rambler station wagon and went off to see what in the world would induce all these people to go to church.
And that’s where I met Jesus.
The real Jesus, not the Americanized, marginalized Jesus I had known about since childhood. This was a Jesus who talked normal and told stories and acted like a regular person and then did the undoable— like bringing people back to life and healing awful diseases and making life good.
I couldn’t get enough of Him.
That’s also where I was introduced to the beauty of the love of God for me— Diane. Because that’s all these people could talk about and sing about and worship about! The actual, tangible, personal love of God seemed so real to them that they glowed, yes, that’s the right word—
They glowed with the love of God.
And then I met Phil and we fell in love and got married and had kids— John Mark, Rebekah, Elizabeth, and Matthew. Four people who needed to know what I didn’t know for way too long, what I still find difficult to actually, really believe:
That God actually, really loves me. That though I am flawed and full of failure, He sees beauty in who I am. And because I am in Him and He is in me, He sees that beauty as the truest thing about me.
My calling became crystal clear as these little people filled every hour of my days:
I am called by God to invite my children in close where they can experience for themselves the love God holds for them— personally and specifically.
From the moment I felt the faintest flutter of a human forming in my womb, until the day I see Him face to face, it is my honor, my right, my privilege to do all in my power to convince each of my people that God loves them.
He sees and knows and delights in who He made.
And as I began to step into my calling, something magnificent began to happen in my soul.
I fell in love with my kids.
I began to see them, not as problems to be solved, but as people made in the image of God— by God and for God. And I felt God inviting me in close where I could see them as He does. So that together we delight in these people He made.
God loves John Mark.
God sees Himself in who John Mark is; creator, artist, prophet, gift. He’s proud of his courage, his humility, his determination to dive head-long into truth.
God loves Matthew.
God smiles at this son of mine, watching his wide-open passion for people, collecting his tender tears in a treasured bottle, putting His great big God-arm around his shoulder and saying, “This one is so much like Me!”
God loves Rebekah.
He delights in her intelligence and curiosity and her uniquely made-by-God wonder. Her questions spur His respect, her compassion mirrors His heart, and He loves how she is.
God loves Elizabeth.
He crafted her with unique ways of seeing and doing and thinking and feeling and He absolutely loves what He made. He craves her company. He sees her way of seeing and wants us all to know that He’ll gladly give us eyes to see this way too if we’ll only want to.
You see what I mean? This is the best part of my life!
When we talk about The Box— this frame we build around our children’s lives in order to offer them a place of joy filled security— this part is crucial.
Bringing the love Jesus has for them right up front and center where they can’t not see— this is the best.
This is our calling.
And of course we’ll talk about discipline. And I’ll write about ordering their world to help them grow into God’s vision for them. And we’ll learn how to hone our skills of encouragement and creating fun and being generous with affection.
Yet the greatest of these? Love.
From my heart,
Diane