I tucked in my youngest son last night with the same two questions I always ask.
Who loves you?
Momma.
Who else loves you?
Jesus.
I always end by saying That’s right, Momma and Jesus love you! Then I walk away sort of giggling to myself, because I like the ring of that — Momma and Jesus love you. It sounds like a country western song.
Last night I added a third question. How do you know Jesus loves you?
It wasn’t premeditated. I was just sort of curious, so I thought I’d ask. My 7 year old son immediately responded with, Because he made me.
In our family, we believe that God is the Father, the Son (Jesus) and the Holy Spirit totally intertwined, all at once. So yeah, that’s a pretty good answer. Ben knows Jesus loves him because as God, He took the time to create him.
Do you know that God knows everything about you? He knows exactly how many hairs are on your head. He knows you love Carson Wentz (my son’s favorite football player). And He has a plan for your life that He put together before you were even born. Isn’t that cool?
We went on to talk about how God knows everything about us, and it’s sort of our job to get to know Him so we can begin to understand what that plan is for our life.
As we were talking, I could only half remember a verse I’ve heard recited for years. I wished the fog would clear from my brain so I could share it with my son. The moment passed, but this morning I woke up still trying to put all the words of that verse in the right order.
I’m making it this week’s memory verse in case you need to memorize it for the first or second or third time, too.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)
I wonder… if we keep that verse close to our hearts, perhaps it will help us better understand the true character of God. If we can remember that He is good and that He has good in store for us even when it doesn’t seem like it, maybe we will be able to better trust the parts of the path that aren’t yet lit.
I’m willing to try it. How about you?