Valentine Love

I know Valentine's Day isn't until tomorrow, but I'm going out of town, so I won't get a chance to write tomorrow. I wanted to write this story for Valentine's Day, though, because it's a love story. And, it's definitely a story I want to remember down the road.

The weekend before Eli was born I went on a women's retreat with my church. We went over to the beach, only thirty minutes away, and I left Luke with Kris for the weekend. Kris' mom, Mrs. Bonnie, went, too. On Sunday, after the retreat was over, Kris decided to bring Luke over to meet us so we could hang out on the beach for a little bit before heading home. When Luke walked into the room for the first time after being away from me all weekend, he wouldn't come to me. He didn't hug me or call out to me. He wouldn't even look at me. He did, however, immediately run to Grandma and hold onto her for dear life. As you can imagine, my little heart shattered into a million pieces. I was just completely rejected by my child, and I could barely breathe. (Not to mention that I was hugely pregnant and completely emotional to begin with.)

I managed to collect myself enough to avoid a scene as we made our way down to the beach to let Luke play a little bit. As I watched him running around on the dunes and nursed my wounded heart, the Lord spoke so sweetly. "Hannah, he will never love you as much as you love him." Gasp. Somehow, that didn't make me feel better. At first. And then I began thinking about that fact. It's true. I will never love my parents as much as they love me, and my babies will never love me as much as I love them. What an awesome privelege I have as a parent! And then, just as sweetly, I heard His voice again. "That's the way it is with you and me. You'll never love me as much as I love you." Oh, Father! Thank you!

"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called the children of God! And that is what we are!" 1 John 3:1