Tears of The Best Kind

How do You do it, Lord?  Use the simplest of things — even a gesture — to move me so deeply?

I was at church this morning.  It unfolded as I have come to expect.  A compelling message that challenged my mind and captivated my spirit.  Music that lifted me into Your Throne Room.  Worship that was both reverent and affectionate toward You.

But it was a simple gesture that pierced my heart and brought me to tears before You.

In the blink of an eye.

A little girl carried Your Flame into the sanctuary, to light the candles on the altar.  She was five or six years old.  I could only see her back as she went to the altar.  I could tell by her deliberate movements that she took this privilege very seriously.

But The Moment that pierced me was at the end of the service.  She reversed her process — lighting her wick from the altar candles, extinguishing them, then turning to take Your Flame out of the sanctuary.

I can still see her face as she came up the aisle.  And my eyes still fill with tears…

… even as I remember.

She was looking up at The Flame she carried.  Never diverting her eyes.  Slowing her pace whenever sensed she was moving too fast.  Not wanting her speed to snuff out The Light.

She had eyes for nothing else.  Eyes for no one else.  Eyes only for The Light she had been chosen to carry.  Your Light, Lord.  Every part of her was focused on — and attentive to — the privilege she had been given.

What a picture!

“Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven.”  (Matthew 18:3)

Why did this pierce me so, Lord?  I know.  Her face said it all.

She looked completely open to You, Lord.  Nothing held back.  She looked completely surrendered to You.  Willing to do anything.  To go anywhere.  As if she completely trusted You.  Without question or reservation.

Childlike Innocence.

How did You feel, Lord, as You looked down into her upturned face?  The same way You feel when You look into my face, Abba?

I, too, am Your chosen Daughter.  Innocent… by Your Grace.

So I, too, can look up at You like that… if only I will believe all You have done for me… and said about me… and promised to me…

Tears of the Best Kind.  Tears of Gratitude and Joy…

… provoked by the Wonder of Your Unfailing Love.

“If God is for us, who can be against us?  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?… It is God who justifies.  Who then is the one who condemns?  No one… Nothing in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8:31-39)

Joyfully looking up…   🙂

Abba’s Girl

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