complete love

for those of you who are memorizing with us: week 4:

1 john 4:12 "No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in us & His love is made complete in us."

i currently am looking down at the sweet angelic face of my dear tiny girl. she has some of the fairest skin i've ever seen, blonde hair, & blue eyes. she has sweet chubby cheeks, & her smile & dimple can melt any heart.

but that is not how i felt earlier. she has her first official cold & can't breathe very well. she has been awake for the vast majority of the last several nights & didn't nap all morning. by 2pm (after she had been constantly screaming most of the day), i was feeling a tinge of exasperation.

especially after a pb rash outbreak, poopy diaper, & a pee accident (that seemed as though someone poured a 2L soda bottle all over the carpet) that all happened simultaneously as we were minutes (even seconds) from nap time. meanwhile, tiny one was screaming like someone was plucking her toes off...a desperate, piercing scream without taking a breath.

after no sleep, i felt like i was at the end of my rope. i practiced my "thank you's" (from last week) & the rope was extended a bit further, but not by much.

by 3pm i got my sophie-girl to finally go to sleep & i had exactly 20 minutes before my zekey woke up.

but you know, my love is what shows my children what God is like. i so wish i loved them perfectly. i want them to know God.

but, because i want the to know God, i love them. and, i love my husband. as i love, God does his deep work & his love becomes more complete.

complete love is not something that you can put into words, but it is something we can feel. we know if our husband loves us completely. we know if our friends love us completely. we know if our own moms & dads love us completely.

our children know if we love them completely. and that love will be their picture of God's love.

as we put off our momentary wants and needs to choose love, we make God bigger to our littles. and a bigger God makes life much better than we can imagine. for them AND for us.