It all started as a simple quote from my 5 year old son. One night as I was tucking him into bed he said to me, “Mom, I love you more than thunder eggs and sand dollars.” I smiled, gave him a quick hug and went to say goodnight to the girls. It wasn’t until a few weeks later that God brought those sweet words to my mind again, and just wouldn’t let them fade.
You see, Ben doesn’t just like those things. He LOVES them. He is a passionate collector of beautiful things. He treasures each and every rock, shell, feather, coin or birds nest he finds. If you threw one of his treasured rocks out into our gravel driveway, he could find it. He knows exactly what they look like. He loves them.
As the Lord spoke to my heart, I was hit by a sudden realization. Ben was telling me a lot more than just I love you. He was also declaring how important I was to him. He loved me more that all those other things he also loves.
Then the tables were turned on myself. Whenever God brought Ben’s words to my mind, all I could think about was “Do I love God more than _______?” You can fill in your own blank. For me, I could fill it in with hundreds of things. Do I love God more than my husband, my precious kids, my family, my free time, TV shows, my friends, my pride, my hobbies, my computer, my status, my sinful desires.
Of course I can say that I love God more than all of these things, but do my actions testify to this? Do I carve out time with God the way I make time to watch my favorite TV show? Or desperately look forward to my time with God in prayer like I look forward to a date with my husband? The answer was NO…and that was very humbling.
I was humbled a second time this month by something my daughter said to me. About a week before school started my husband and son decided to have one last campout in the backyard. The girls and I preferred the comfort of our own beds, but I still wanted to make the night special for them. I let them choose a movie, we painted our nails and ate smores over the stove. Then Emma and I played Barbies until 11:30. We had a blast.
A few days later I was sitting at the edge of Emma’s bed saying goodnight. The next day was the first day of school after a fun-filled summer. I asked her, “So, what was your FAVORITE thing we did ALL summer?”
As she thought about it my thoughts drifted back through the last 2 ½ months of camping trips, museum adventures, swimming lessons, bike rides, trips to see family, sleepovers, vacations and friends. She looked at me with a big smile on her face and said, “Playing Barbies with you all by myself for 2 whole hours- that was the best!”
Wow. Later, as I lay in bed, I realized what the difference had been. She loved doing all the other things too, but this was her favorite because it made her feel special. She knew I was choosing to spend my night playing with her, no distractions getting in our way. I was truly focused on her, listened to her, laughed with her, was silly with her. And that made her very happy.
Doesn’t God desire just that with us? To truly have our undivided attention with no distractions? He delights in our company, he wants a relationship with us, he wants us to choose Him. Rev. 3:20 says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with them, and he with Me.”
I just started a Beth Moore Bible study called, “A Woman’s Heart”, and I love how she words this : “God doesn’t just love us. He also likes us!”
I desperately want to walk with the Lord. Every day. My prayer is that we can honestly say, “God, I love you more than thunder eggs and sand dollars”. I want to set aside distractions and choose time with my Savior. Just like Emma said to me that night, I want to be able to say, “My favorite part of the day was being in the presence of the Lord.”
I will leave you with this verse that is resonating in my heart today:
Joshua 24:15 “Choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve…But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
