I have never known a love like this!

Have you ever looked at something and thought to yourself, "I wish I could bottle up this moment. I wish I could bottle up the sound of their chests rising and falling, the smell of dirt and baby lotion marrying together, the feel of their sweet skin when I kiss them, the touch of their chubby little hands and cheeks, and the sight of two of the biggest miracles in my life touching each other."

I have never known a love like this!


Our neighbor Debbie took a picture of the cotton behind our house getting picked. I wish I could bottled up this moment as well...the excitement in Drew's face was priceless. I have never known a child to love John Deere so much. He prays for John Deere, he only colors with green, he eats all the green gum balls first.

I have never known a love like this!




There is nothing I wouldn't give my boys...
Play in the mud, why not? Sing "Jingle Bells" for the millionth time...I would love too!
Put the Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving...no problem!
Let you wear an orange hard hat to church...what will it hurt?

I have never known a love like this!

But here is the thing Max Lucado's book "He Chose The Nails" has me thinking about... God loves me more!

It's a fact, I have never known a love like the one I have for Drew and Kade. It's the pounding of my heart, lump in my throat, goose bumps on my skin kind of love that started the day they were born. They couldn't offer me anything in return. All they did was cry and eat and poop, but woe be it to the person who tried to harm them. As soon as they were born I saw beauty...the wrinkled nose, the peeling red skin, the gooey bell button.

But God loves me more?
Romans 5:8 says, "But God showed His great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners."
When I was ugly and grotesque in my sin...God still loved me. In fact, He sent His only Son to be beaten, mocked, spit on, and nailed to a cross only to bear the shame of every one of my sins that was nailed to the cross with him. No, you might not have seen the list of wrongs, but they were there between his hand and the cross. His blood blotted each one of them out. Now I am no longer seperated from the Father.
I have never known a love like this!
I love Ronnie, my parents, Chad, Charla, my friends. I would like to think I would give my own life for them, but I could never sacrifice one of my boys for any of their lives. I just couldn't!
I have never known a love like this!

I would make any sacrifice gladly to for my boys because I love them. I love to give them gifts, there is just nothing like seeing their eyes light up with excitement and gratefulness. I will go without shoes, a new car, vacations, expensive make-up, etc gladly...just like the sacrifice my mom made when she went without braces for 27 years so my brother and I could have the priviledge to smile with perfectly straight teeth! There is no sacrifice to large to make for your children...no price too high! Don't you agree?
Matthew 7:11 says, "If you hardhearted, sinful men know how to give good gifts to your children, won't your Father in heaven even more certainly give good gifts to those who ask him for them."
James 1:17 in the Message says, "Every desirable and beneficial gift comes from heaven. The gifts are rivers of light cascading down from the Father of Light."
Do we realize that every gift and blessing in our life is a cascade of light that reveals the heart of God, that reveals the face of God? Thanksgiving Day is remembering that our God is a giving God, a loving God, a compassionate God. His priceless gift did not come wrapped with a bow under the Christmas tree, but was nailed with love to a cross.
I have never known a love like this!
You want to know the best part? We don't have to bottle up this love and put it away. God makes his mercies new every morning. We can live it, breathe it, visit it, taste it, and smell the love every day!
I have never known a love like this!