when judgement doesn't stick

The supreme happiness of life is the conviction 

that we are loved.

-- Les Miserables by Victor Hugo

When my first daughter was less than one month old my wife gave me a sage piece of advice;
"Let her know that she is loved"

It became my quest. I told her daily, and often. The trick was to not allow the words to become hollow and meaningless. For me and for her>

I love you when you behave
I love you when you don't
I love you when I reprimand you
I love you when we snuggle
I love you because you were given to be by God.
I love you simply because I love you.

When a girl (or a woman) or a boy (or a man) is convicted in their heart of hearts that they are loved they are free.

Free from judgment
Free from anxitey
Free from a multitude of disorders
Free to become all that Christ died for them to be.

Max Lucado captures this perfectly in his children's book "You are Special"(buy the book now! Even if you don't have children!).

The jacket writes;
"Every day the small wooden people called Wemmicks do the same thing: stick either gold stars or grey dots on one another. The pretty ones -those with smooth wood and fine paint-they always get gold stars. The talented ones do too. Others, though, who can do little or who have chipped paint, get ugly gray dots. Like Punchinello.
     In this heart warming children's tale...Eli the woodcarver helps Punchinello understand how special he is-no matter what the other Wemmicks may think. It's a vital message for children everywhere; that no matter how the world evaluates them, God cherishes each of them, just as they are...

So one day Punchinello (who is covered with dots) meets a girl who has none! He learns that stickers don't stick to her because she listen's to Eli, the one who made her...he visits him too...and slowly, one by one, all his dots fall off.

My daughters have been told since they first came out of the womb that they are loved with a never-stopping-never-giving up-always and forever love- from God. I speak the truth into their lives that they are loved God, the One who carved their bodies and ordered their days.

I pray this has set my girls to be free...and to know real love...

Do you know this?



One day P