Precious reminders of love
“I’m so spoiled,” she said. “By him loving me, I mean. No matter what, he always takes me back.”
These words came out of my daughter’s mouth the other day as she hugged her dad’s shoulder. She had, only moments before, been poking him, pinching him, and squealing at him in a general effort to get on his last nerve.
Just as he had decided he had had enough and was planning to walk away, she stopped and said, “I’m sorry. I love you, Daddy.” And he stopped in his tracks and let her hang on his frame. He hugged her back and that’s when she looked at me and said the part about being spoiled.
I loved hearing it for several reasons. I mean, first of all, how can you not just be filled with joy to see genuine care between two people you love?
Secondly, these two put one another through the wringer during her early teenage years. They argued about everything. They couldn’t agree about anything. If one said it was up, the other swore it was down. If one said tall, the other said short. For a lengthy period of time, they couldn’t even be in the same room without one of them being unkind to the other. I didn’t think I’d ever see a different outcome, in fact.
So, to see them joke with one another – even to the point that one is irritated – and watch it end in smiles and hugs instead of tears is a beautiful sight. To know where they came from in their relationship and to see where they are now makes her realization about his love for her all the more precious to me.
But the biggest reason I loved it is because it reminds me of the love God has for us. Every second of every day, humans fall short of what our heavenly father desires for our lives. Every day we fail to obey his commands.
Every person has poked God and grieved him in some manner. Many of us have done the same wrong thing dozens or even hundreds of times. We often fail to acknowledge that our behavior is even wrong.
And yet, he is always there, patiently waiting to hear us call out to him that we love him, to say we’re sorry, and to acknowledge that his love in return is a gift.
What I recently saw in my husband and daughter is an imperfect picture for sure, but it clearly depicted the most beautiful love ever created: our father in heaven fully prepared to love us no matter what we have done in the past. A father ready to accept our apology for all the wrongs we have done to him, all the grief we have caused, and all poor choices we have made. Ready to forgive us. And when we do come to him, his arms are open wide, ready to embrace us and to say in return, “I love you, too, child.”