Love is just the skin of knowing..

Seven years ago, I married a guy I thought I knew well and honestly, I had no idea the gift God gave me in him on that day.  He has used my husband nearly every day since that sweet day to stretch my heart in ways I never dreamed possible.

Eight months ago God gave us this little guy to stretch our hearts in new and incredibly beautiful ways.

I love a quote from The Shack that reads, "So many believe it is love that grows, but it is knowing that grows and love simply expands to contain it. Love is just the skin of knowing.” 

"...Love is just the skin of knowing."  The more I know my husband, and the more we get to know our son the MORE WE LOVE.

Then I think of these words…

"Love the Lord your God with ALL your Heart and with ALL your soul and with ALL your mind and with ALL your strength." Mark 12:30. Ouch.

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with ALL your heart." Jeremiah 29:13. Ouch, again.

How can I love my God with ALL of me and not love His word and thirst for time spent in fellowship with Him above ALL else?

I confess this, that there are days when the urgent crowds out the important, days when I get so wrapped up in parenting and working and serving;  and even times, if I am really being honest, when I am just plain selfish.

Then when my heart is pricked, I make time to sit and savor His word and I read something like this, from Ephesians 1:3-14, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ. For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love he predestined us for adoption to sonship through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will—to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and understanding, he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times reach their fulfillment—to bring unity to all things in heaven and on earth under Christ. In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works out everything in conformity with the purpose of his will, in order that we, who were the first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of his glory.  And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit,  who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory."

His word, and time spent with Him, completely takes my breath away. I am reminded of the lyrics of a song: “In the quiet, in the stillness, I know that You are God. In the secret of Your presence, I know there I am restored. When You call I won’t refuse! Each new day again I’ll choose! There is no one else for me, none but Jesus! Crucified to set me free, now I live to bring Him praise.”

How can I not desire this time with Him in the same way I desire time to fully know and be known by my sweet husband and little boy?  Each morning, may I wake to look eagerly into His face the way I do my child's. May I hunger for His love above my husband's love.  May I always choose His voice over a thousand others. May I search out the riches of God, may I eagerly learn to know HIS WAY, and may I love Him more for it.

Lauren Strickland, South Alabama Social Worker