It’s amazing that I understood God’s love for me as much as I did before having a daughter. How could anyone without a child fully comprehend how much God loves him or her? I thought I meant it when I sang “How He Loves” before Clara was born, but since then the song has taken on so much more meaning.
Obviously those three sentences are ridiculous. Having a child is not a prerequisite to fully understanding God’s love for us. The only prerequisites for understanding God’s love for us are realizing how sinful we are and what Jesus did for us on the cross. The cross tells us how much God loves us, not a baby.
That being said, having Clara has given more nuance to my relationship with God. Just like all of our personal experiences color how we view God, having a baby has added new dimensions to my perspective.
One of those new perspectives can be seen in the smile of my little girl. For the first month Clara didn’t really express any emotion other than distress when she was hungry or had a dirty diaper. Over the past couple weeks, though, she is definitely showing a wider range of emotions.
She laughs when Alycia plays peek-a-boo with her.
She shows a little concern when both Alycia and I leave her alone on her play mat.
She smiles when I get home from work.
Oh, that smile.
Now I understand how daughters can so easily wrap their fathers around their fingers. When Clara smiles at me it’s like everything is right in the world. When I was having a frustrating day at work, Alycia sent me a snap of Clara laughing and smiling; it immediately improved my attitude. Clara doesn’t know how much joy she brings me just by smiling, but it fills my heart to overflowing.
Before I ever saw my daughter smile at me, I understood that God is pleased when we live lives that are honoring to him. Living lives that reflect God’s love, peace and hope to the world is like us smiling at him. If Clara can bring me that much joy, then I want to bring that much joy to God. I wanted to please God before, but having a daughter has added a new perspective to pleasing God.
It’s a lot easier for Clara to please me, at least right now. Even when she wakes me up at 4:30 in the morning I can’t stay mad at her if she smiles at me. We have to be way more intentional if we want to please God.
We have to be selfless.
We have to avoid temptation.
We have to love other people.
None of those things happen by accident. They also don’t happen in our own strength. God helps us please God. The Holy Spirit dwells within us, empowering us to live lives that make God smile. So pleasing God isn’t just a matter of trying as hard as we can, pleasing God is a matter of working together with God.
How do you like to make God smile?
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