as a child

every morning as we pull up to our care point, a little herd of children wait eagerly as  we file out of the van-as we do, they run into our arms confidently knowing we are there to love and care for them. this has me thinking about a few different things. one- what a high honor and responsibility it is to carry the love of Jesus. How cool is it that He entrusts that to us and what a beautiful opportunity that is, I get to pour out the love I’ve been given by Him.
two-just as these kids run into our arms knowing we’ll love them and take care of them, how much more should we run into the Father’s arms like that, being confident in the love, safety, and care He has for us. I’m human. I’m going to mess up, I’m going to disappoint these kids at some point, and ultimately, in a month, I’m going to have to leave. But unlike me, the Father is completely perfect. He never fails or disappoints. His perfect love covers everything and is more vast than we could ever comprehend. And He won’t ever leave us. ever. I want to run into His arms knowing it’s a safe place to be loved and cared for just as these kids run into my arms, trusting me. This season of children’s ministry has been so sweet as the Lord has been teaching me what it looks like to be His child and let Him really be my Father. We are always trying to teach these little ones, but I think we have a lot to learn from them too. “child of God” is a pretty common phrase we toss around-but what does it really mean to be a child of God? It’s not just a metaphor, we really do need to be like children as we come to Him-dependence, trust, faith. As we grow up, we learn to do things out of our own strength and stop relying on our parents, but little kids are fully dependent on their parents for all their needs and they fully trust that their parents have it all under control and that all their needs will be met. We should have that same state of dependence on and trust in our Father, who, can do all these things way better than anyone else. After so many years of doing things out of my own strength, it’s been weird and hard to learn to return to a state of desperate dependence. But it’s also been sweet. I’ve been learning to let myself be weak because that’s where I get to see the Lord come in. His power is made perfect in my weakness. Truly, I am nothing without Him. What a beautiful thing. I never want to take a step out of my own strength again because that’s not the way it’s meant to be. I’m thankful that I get to run into the Father’s arms as a child-with nothing to bring-fully known and deeply loved, cared for, and protected. What an honor it is to be His child, thank you Jesus.