Happy Birthday!

I absolutely love celebrating birthdays.  More specifically, I love celebrating my daughters’ birthdays.  Each birthday is a reminder of God’s goodness to my husband and I.  This week we celebrated our youngest daughter’s seventh birthday.  It seems like yesterday I was in the doctor’s office and learned the very surprising news that we were expecting our second child.  It had taken us eight long years before we were able to celebrate the birth of our oldest daughter and were not even ready to begin thinking of expanding our family. 

However, God had something else in mind. 

On January 23, 2007, God began a chapter in my life that He had already written for me. 

I have watched Madeline the past few days and soaked up every little squeal, smile, hug, and thank you.  She is so full of life, wonder and energy.  She is my spunky, sassy, compassionate, and inquisitive girl.  She has a constant sparkle in her eye and desire to make people around her smile.  As I sit her and write about her, she is next to me asking if she can hit the period key at the end of each sentence.  She loves to be a part of everything I do. 

The more I watch my baby, the more I fall in love with who she is.  And in the process, God reminds me that he looks at me the same way, as His precious and loved daughter. 

He also reminds me that when I was young in my faith I was full of life and wonder and energy.  I studied the Word, I told everyone that would listen how amazing God was and how desperately they needed Jesus.  I served with energy and passion, excited to see God working in my life and the lives of others.  I was spunky, sassy, compassionate and inquisitive.  I would read scriptures for hours, studying to find the answers to questions that would not let me sleep.  I had a sparkle in my eye and desired to make people around me smile.  And I loved being a part of what God was doing.  I so desperately wanted God to use me that I made myself available to Him, and moved obediently when he called.

Then life happened.  

And somewhere along the way I lost the wonder, energy and spunk.

They were replaced with frustration, exhaustion and complacency.

I have been blessed with such an amazing life.  I have the most incredible family a girl could ask for.  I have friends that are supportive and a church that provides opportunities for me to serve and fulfill the calling God has placed in my life.  I have a successful career in a well-known and successful firm. 

But in the midst of life itself I became so caught up in the minutia that I lost focus.

I became internally focused, rather than eternally focused.

I failed to keep the main thing, the main thing.

And now as I watch Madeline so full of life and willing to serve and ask the hard questions, I wonder…

What does God see when He looks at me now?

He sees His daughter.  The one he knit together in the secret place.  The one He hemmed in before and behind.  The one he created so intimately and perfectly.  The one He sat and wrote out a specific story for, one full of His blessings and abundance.  The one He longs to use for His glory.

So tonight I will let this sink deep in my heart and move me.  I will take the time to let my God love on me and fill me to overflowing.  I will cherish these moments he uses my daughters to remind me how precious I am to Him. 

And I will remind my sweet babies how precious they are to Him as well.