Loved...

At Judah's co-op class, they were working on a craft to give to their moms on Mother's Day.  His teacher came and told me this funny story.

She asked him what he was going to do for me for Mother's Day.  Judah responds with, "Huh?"  She explains that Mother's Day was coming up on the Sunday following our co-op.

Judah asks, "Is it EVERY Sunday??"

His teacher tells him no, just once a year, and it was this coming Sunday.

He responds, "I don't think my mom knows about that."

As I was cleaning up the counter this morning, I found the card Judah had made for me (but didn't give me because he couldn't find it) :

I love her because: because she loves me.

Oh.  My.  Heart. 

I may feel like, in this crazy season, I am getting a lot of things wrong. My husband is doing more dishes than either of us would like (and that's with the paper plates!!).  I end most of my days, having accomplished less than half of what I planned or desired.

But my five year old understands something so beautiful and profound.  He loves me because I loved him first.  And I love him because God loved me first.

I spent most of Mother's Day in bed with a gnarly headache. I did get some snuggles. :). And my lovely daughter let me borrow her skirt and her boots. :-). This picture of me with all these amazing people that I love SO much, just reminds me of how God is always the Initiator. He loved me first. It is how I know what love is.

"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another."

1 John 4:10