As Dearly Loved Children

I make an attempt at spending some "deliberate" time with God each morning. My problem though is that no matter how good my time praying or just resting in Him is, it feels fruitless to me if I haven't read some large number of pages of the Bible or the current devotional book I've gotten or been given. It's amazingly refreshing to me when God stops me in my tracks with a verse or two. I love that feeling of "stop and rest in these words for awhile".

I've been chewing on Ephesians 5:1-2 for like three days now. I know you might read that and keep on trucking. But for me, it is so challenging. The verse in the NIV says this:

Be imitators of God therfore, as dearly loved children and live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Many of you know that my wife and I have a two-year old name Addy. She is truly amazing and Cris and I have been blessed to have her and be able to watch her grow and learn. From how she's talking to HOW MUCH she's talking, from picking out what she wants for supper to dressing herself before she comes out of her bedroom in the morning(that's probably my favorite, I think she's got gypsy blood in her), She is growing. I say all that to say that I think God is using her to reveal that verse to me.

If anybody is a dearly loved child, it's Addy. And to watch her imitate me and Cris or take on certain personality traits is sometimes hilarious and sometimes scary. I'll get home from work and give Cris a kiss when I walk in the door(that sounds so Ward Cleaver'ish). I'll have to admit, sometimes it's a lingering kiss. Well, almost always, there's Addy at our feet staring up at what we're doing. Next thing you know, she wants a kiss which I will gladly give, but there have been times when she will shove her face onto me and stay there and then turn her head back and forth. I either crack up laughing or think "Oh crap, is that what I look like when I kiss!"

She's watching me! She's learning from ME, and in turn she's pointing me directly to what and who I need to be watching and learning from. To look at my Heavenly Father and learn and imitate Him is where it's at. To live a life of love just as Christ did as man and God.
It's a natural reaction to being, knowing and accepting that we areHis dearly loved children.