Monday, May 24, 2010

From the lips of babes: "I love you bigger than..."

One of my daughter's favorite things in life is watching movies. She could watch the same movie two to three times in a row without thinking anything of it. And if I'd let her, she could probably be content watching movies all day long.
As I was getting ready to leave for work today, we went through our "standard procedure" for saying goodbye:
"Bye baby- see you tonight."
"Bye Daddy- hey Daddy, do you know how much I love you?"
"How much?"
Now I have to stop here for a moment and give some background information. Her usual response to this question is "bigger than the house," or "bigger than the whole. Wide. World!" About 6 months ago she threw me a curve ball and said, "I love you bigger than your work." This response alone is worthy of exploring, but I digress... :)
So back to my story-
"Daddy do you know how much I love you?" And she looks over at the tv, which is playing one of her favorite movies, and says with a big ole cute grin, "I love you bigger than the tv."
Talk about knocking your socks off! She just told me that she loved me more than her most favorite thing in the whole-wide-world! If that doesn't warm your heart, then I don't know what will!
So what's the significance? Why tell this story? I think that it is profound when a 4yr old little girl is able to communicate a correct understanding of true love, a love that esteems someone more than any other cherished thing they posses. And given to a little introspective thinking, I realize that, while I might say that I love God "bigger" than anything in my life, I often live the exact opposite, by demonstrating through the use of my time and money that things (or even my family) are "bigger" in my life than my relationship with Christ, and His transformation of my heart to reflect more of His.
As Christ followers, we all will say that we love Jesus. Let's be certain that our love is not mere lip service, but one that demonstrates that we truly love God "bigger" than anything else.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

1 comment:

E.Gray said...

so true :) and she really does love you more than everything!!! and I, love you too!