Loving Gifts

My daughter is puppy obsessed. I mean it. We have talked non-stop about puppy names, breeds, dog food, dog training, tricks, leashes, you name it. She is watching training videos, looking up pictures, and even checking prices on things we will need. She has also started researching the best food for her puppy.

Are we getting a puppy? No.

Well, short answer – not yet.

Long answer – she has wanted a puppy for-eeeeevvvvver! When she was around five, and she had been begging and begging and I made an offhand comment that I would get her a dog by the time she was 10 years old. That stuck. She has since clung to the “promise” that she would have a furry best friend by the time she was ten.

Well, she just turned nine last month. The count down has started.

And her (our) best friends just got their puppy last week.

Another condition of the puppy is that we have our own house and we may have put in an offer and may have had the offer accepted and may currently be in the process of, hopefully, purchasing our own home. (Eeek!!)

Hence… puppy fever!

I love it, though. I WANT to get her a puppy. She’s an only child and I believe every kid should have a dog at least once in their life! The joy she gets from animals… and her excitement over even the idea of a puppy… I can’t wait to be able to buy her one. Even I am excited and have begun the process of at least looking and dreaming.

I love my daughter, more than anything, and I LOVE to make her happy. I can’t wait to see the joy light up her eyes, the smile stretch across her face. I can’t wait to see her training her own dog, snuggling her own puppy, giggling as she gets puppy kisses from her own lil best friend. I am excited to see her puppy tagging along after her, anxious to follow her everywhere. I am looking forward to the bond that will form between the two of them as they grow up together.

As much as I, also, love puppies… it is the joy of giving her this gift that I am anticipating the most.

God is our Father. He looks at us as His children and He loves us dearly with a love far greater than our own. We cannot grasp the love He has for us, because it is beyond our capacity but I think the love we have for our children is probably the closest we can come to trying to understand it.

We love our kids and we want good things for them, the best things for them, as much as we are able to provide, with all that is in our power, we want to do right by them and for them.

And God loves us more than that. He says to us, “You humans! You don’t even know what real love is! You barely grasp the concept of love yet you want so much for your children. With what love you have, you do so much and try so hard to give the best gifts and the best of everything to your children.”

Then He says to us, “Don’t you know how much I love you? That I love you even more than you love your children? And with a love as great as I have for you, don’t you realize that I, too, want to give the best of things to you? That I want so much for you? That I want to give you love and life abundantly, more than you even ask?” As much as YOU want to give good gifts to your children, even MORE SO, I want to give good and loving gifts to you!”

Oooh, friends that is so powerful. It’s … what’s the word… incomprehensible almost?! I KNOW how much I love my daughter, and God gives me something that I can understand – the love I have for my daughter – to try and show me – in a limited human fashion – a peek at how much He loves me!!

My I am statement for today is going to be “I am loved.” And I am just going to sit in these thoughts today. That as much as I love my punky, God loves me so much more. I am so loved. YOU are so loved. If you are a parent, perhaps we can use this, this powerful analogy, as a reminder, as a glimpse into God’s heart and how much He loves us.

I hope you feel loved right now. I hope you catch sight, even for a moment, of the love God has for you right now. And I hope you hold onto it all day long.

Happy Saturday friends.