Remembering my Thank You's

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I've been thinking a lot lately about parental love. How two cells grow to thousands, the baby is born, and this switch turns on and immediately you are in love with this new creature that you've never seen before. As a mom, I had the added bonus of watching William move around in my belly, felt him kicking my kidneys and bladder, felt occasional hiccups, and had immense changes occur to my body. After 7 months my body was done, I developed pre-eclampsia, and William had to come. I only got a passing glance before he was taken to the NICU, and I didn't see him for another 36 hours. I wasn't allowed out of bed and he couldn't see me. Those were an excruciating 36 hours. But then I went to the NICU, I saw my baby, and I was instantly in love. Just like that.

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What sort of amazing power is this love that we feel for our children? We can be totally indifferent to other's kids, and then ours enters the room and that love explodes. It's like a switch in our brain that God has equipped us with.

I can lay for hours at night looking at William sleep. If he's sick, I'll stay up all night holding him so that he feels better and is cared for. I may be sleepy the next morning and cranky to everyone else, but I know I'd do it again in a second. This love gives us the yearning to do everything to keep our children safe, to make them feel loved. It makes the trivial moments in our kids lives feel amazing. It's what gets us through school choir concerts and soccer games in the freezing rain.

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Can you imagine Abraham when God told him to take his only son, the one that he and Sarah had waited so many years for, the boy that Made Sarah laugh with disbelief when she learned that she was pregnant in her old age, the boy that all of their love and pride was centered on, the one that would carry on Abraham's legacy. Can you imagine God asking Abraham to give Him Isaac as a sacrifice? I always wonder if Abraham initially thought, "Umm, not gonna happen, Big Guy." That's what I would think.

And then He takes Isaac up to the mountain top and lays him on an alter and does exactly what God had asked of him. He raised his knife, preparing to take the life of his only son. God stops him just in the nick of time and supplies a lamb for the sacrifice. Isaac had been a test of Abraham's loyalty and devotion. And Abraham passed.

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I have to tell you right now, I don't know if I would pass that test. My love for my children is too deep. I'd rather give myself, as I'm sure many of you understand.

God will never ask that of me, though, because He did exactly what he had asked Abraham to do with His only son - led Him to the slaughter as a sacrifice for us. I would imagine, as God is all powerful and is The Everything, that He felt love for Jesus that as a human, we would have no concept of. Huge, encompassing love, joy beyond the confines of our earthly understanding. And yet He gave His son for the lives of mere people, who are so unworthy, many of which couldn't give a damn, all of whom will disappoint and fall short of deserving such a gift.

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Stop and think about that. And take time to thank Him for what He's given us, the sacrifice that He made as a parent. My piddly human mind cannot conceive of the width and breadth and power of that gift. And yet there it is, free for the taking. All we have to do is receive.

Always remember to thank Him and remember that should nothing else ever seem good or right, you have been given the Greatest Gift of All.