Reckless Love

It’s been a few weeks... or let’s be real, a month since the last blog post. We closed out the year with a stunning number of women and men served. We were busy till we closed the door for the holidays, and just as busy as we opened them back up in the new year.

Happy 2018!

Now that we’re almost into month two of the year— and almost week two of my maternity leave!— I wanted to put together a brief series of what it’s like to be a new mom to a very precious baby girl. The expected, unexpected, and probably some things you’re unaware of till you experience having a baby for yourself.

Today I want to talk about “Reckless Love.”

The Sunday before my daughter was born, our church worship team played this song:

That day I knew “Reckless Love” was going to be the theme for my year. Learning how to love so abundantly, so whimsically, so freely, and so recklessly like our God loves us, was going to be the direction of my seeking heart in 2018.

I want to love like that. I want to love without abandon. I want to experience and emulate a love so deep, I feel it in every inch of my body. It’s radical. It’s almost of absurd. But it’s what our world needs. And it’s exactly how Jesus commands us to love one another.

But it was something I thought I’d seek all year.

That is until Eloise was born.

The following weekend I went into labor and she came into this world without event. And she is everything we could have hoped for.

It didn’t take long for me to realize I stepped into a new facet of God’s love as I stared at the perfect face of our little girl. Every inch of her is designed fearfully and wonderfully by her Heavenly Father. He took special care to make her toes and fingers, her red hair, and her beautiful smile. He delights in her. And He loves her recklessly. Unconditionally. Perfectly.

And I realized, the way He loves her, I desire to love her that way too. Every inch of her. Every piece of who she is, and is to become. Unconditionally. Recklessly. Even when we might not even like each other.

That sort of love fills every inch of your being. You can feel it in your fingertips. You can feel it in the soles of your feet. And it feels like your heart might burst into pieces over, and over, and over. But it’s really the best feeling in the world.

God loves us this way. So much so He gave His only Son to make a way Home for us. The Gospel is the story of perfect Love. A way for us to make a choice to live for Him, to glorify Him, and be forgiven of the sin that separated us in the first place. Sin that drove a chasm between us and God, but never deterred his abundant, reckless, unconditional love for us.

A love I know I have for my daughter, and a radical love I know I can have for others.

Love. It’s big. And It’s reckless.