34
They say when you have a baby, and raise a child, you understand the love of God better. The experience of loving that child somehow opens your eyes to the way that God loves you.
Unconditionally.
Extravagantly.
Endlessly.
It's so different from the love I have for special others....my Mommy, my Daddy, my sisters, my husband....
Perhaps because it is new and fresh, it feels like it encompasses me. Like it's so deep and huge and rich that I can't contain it. Instead, it is containing me.
And everywhere I go, with this baby, and with this love, it spills out. He is laughter. He is delight. He is smiles. He is sunshine. He is joy. And everywhere I take him, cashiers and shoppers and managers and church-goers and bystanders are pulled in by his smiles and his joy. Everywhere I take him, he leaves them happier. Leaves it a better place.
If you just look at him, he smiles at you. When he is tired, it is a gentle, small thing.
Most of the time, it is this beautiful, giant grin, and you can't help but grin and laugh back.
My husband brought daily laughter into my life in a new way than I had experienced before. This son of ours is taking that discovery of joy and laughter to a new level.
My mom says when I was a baby, my dad had to work reaaaally hard to get me to crack a smile. And giggle? Well that was nigh impossible. It's actually taken her by surprise, to see a baby SO the opposite.
I pray for him every night, that this joy will not be stolen from him. As he grows...as he relates to other kids who are used to tearing down, being torn down....as he discovers how broken the world around him is....as the broken world causes him to break....
That through it all, his joy will be protected. The delight he brings to others will be guarded. That the love of Jesus will fill him completely, and continually pour forth laughter from deep inside.
This is Jax with the rose my Tita planted for him in Texas. She plants roses for each of her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. His is a rich red, and blooms a single rose once every two weeks. This day we visited her, for the first time, it had two full blooms, and a third bud. Joy multiplying.
