Something I wrote for MOPS...

I read this at our MOPS meeting this morning:

My daughter, Sophia, who will be 4 this week, is a typical firstborn. She’s organized, conscientious, stubborn, and likes things her way. She and I have a lot in common! For two years my husband and I studied this little creature, learning her habits and idiosyncrasies, learning her personality and how she fit into our little family. And just when we had this child-rearing thing all figured out, along came little Miss Eva.

Affectionately (and sometimes not so affectionately) nicknamed Tornado and Terror, from the day she started moving I haven’t stopped chasing. She is the complete opposite of her older sister. Some of you are aware of what we are now calling the Eva Escapades.

--took charcoal out of the fireplace, ate it, and drew on the rug with it
--got into the trash and ate some of it, smashed eggshells on the floor
--got into my stationary and stamped her nose with an orange inkpad and then stamped envelopes and cards with her nose
--unrolled toilet paper too numerous to count as well as a whole roll of aluminum foil
--ate more than her fair share of non-food items
--got into our cupboards and emptied four boxes of cereal and crackers onto the kitchen floor. And yes, the cabinets did have child locks on them at the time
--pushes kitchen chairs over to countertop and gets into pens and pencils and draws all over everything
-emptied a bag of couscous
-emptied an entire jar of allspice onto my kitchen table
- tore apart Daddy’s wallet and Mommy’s purse

She’s precocious, curious, and fearless – a deadly combination! Someone once asked me how I do it. Well, do I really have a choice? She’s my daughter and my responsibility and I just have to roll with it when it comes! At times (okay most of the time) I can get annoyed, frustrated, and yes, even angry – especially if she destroys something special or makes a mess that I have to clean up, but I love her anyways. In fact, there really is nothing she can do to make me love her any less. If anything, it endears her even more to me, because (once I step outside of the moment) I can look beyond the mess and see that her spunk is what makes her uniquely Eva, uniquely created by God to be just who she is. Her inquisitive spirit, her boldness – those very things that frustrate me now – will one day be the very things that God will use for His kingdom.

Isn’t this how God views us? We mess up and we make a mess of our lives, we do things we shouldn’t, we destroy what He has created – and yet He loves us unconditionally, no strings attached. He created us and knows us inside and out – and loves us anyways. There is nothing we could do to lose that love and there is nothing we can do to earn that love. From His heavenly perspective He can see what we are becoming and is well aware that we’ll have to mess up along the way. But He’ll take those screw-ups and our perceived weaknesses and (if we let Him), use them to grow and mature us, to teach us and strengthen us, to shape us into the very person He created us to be. Tempered by His grace and guided by His love, our messy lives will become something beautiful.