Casandra Martin

How do you explain to a child how much you love them? When a child is secure, he lives in the ocean of a parent’s love without ever realizing the breadth and depth of that love. It is there. It is real. It holds them up. And no matter how far they swim, they can’t outswim the ocean.

The love for your child defies logic. A parent’s love isn’t grounded in performance, but in relationship. We willingly step over piles of dirty clothes to hug that child. Trips to the emergency room become tales to tell at dinner. With little hesitation, we fork over money to teach, train, outfit, and feed this person in the making. We go in knowing that there will be messes, mistakes, and moments when will shake our heads, but we go in all the same. The relationship is worth it.

As a parent, it is funny the things that we find ourselves celebrating. Going potty by yourself gets major cheers. Tying your shoes, eating your broccoli, walking into that first classroom, and learning how to write your name are all met with applause. Parents don’t just cheer big moments. It doesn’t matter if you fell fourteen times before you could ride that first stretch of road on your bike by yourself. Parents cheer progress. They are invested in encouraging the little markers of growth and new-found maturity that define all it means to grow up.

“See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are.” – 1 John 3:1a

The love you have for your child is a shadow of the love God has for you.

My Jesus Resolution today is to soak in all it means to be loved. God’s love for me is like an ocean – farther-reaching than I can imagine, deeper than I can dream, more sure and steady than my own heartbeat. I can’t outswim the ocean. God’s love for me is grounded in His faithfulness, not my ability to get it all right. He loves me because He is Love and I am His. God celebrates my growth. Yes, I fall down. Yes, I make mistakes, have a hard head, and it sometimes takes me more than fourteen times to figure it out. But like any good parent, God is invested in helping me grow up. He doesn’t give up. He pours out His grace which floods its way into my heart like the ocean that holds me up.