heart

23 Oct 2012

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace adopted, brain, children, cuddle, dog, emotion, faithful, family, fly, forever, freely, God, good, great, heart, human, kids, kisses, life, love, mercies, night, relax, rescued, sleep, smile, snuggle, sweet, void

Fly By Kisses

The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is His faithfulness; His mercies begin afresh each morning.” Lamentations 3:22-23

Today I woke up refreshed after a good night sleep even after a rather detailed dream and my usual one-eye-open trip to the bathroom. Each morning I faithfully walk Jericho. I rolled out of bed and was greeted by what I call “fly by kisses” from Jericho. He loves us so much that we’ll walk by and he’ll quickly and gently kiss our leg or hand. And it makes my heart smile.

Almost a year ago we rescued and adopted Jericho. Our dog Sasha had just died and our house was desperately void of life (since we don’t have children our animals are our kids). As I signed the adoption papers, knowing that Jericho was heartworm positive and would require intense treatments, I remember feeling overwhelmed with emotion at giving this sweet dog a chance at love. We know almost nothing about his past. We don’t know if he had a family or if he ever experienced overwhelming love. But we know that we will be his forever family.

Jericho was a challenge at first. He ate my favorite sandals, put holes in a favorite scarf, punctured flip-flops, created craters in the yard. But that doesn’t change how much I love him or that he is forever in our lives.

I remember the day that it appeared to click in Jericho’s brain that we are his forever family. Until then he had been sweet but slightly aloof. He had been with us for about 4 months and he just changed. He began to snuggle more, cuddle more, relax more.

It makes me think: Has it clicked in my brain that God is my forever family? Do I really believe that God’s love is faithful regardless of the sins that I commit? If I as a human can love my dog this much and you can love your children as much as you do, then how much more does our almighty, wonderful God love us!

God sees the good in me, in us. And His mercies are like Jericho’s fly by kisses: they are given freely just because He loves us.

12 Oct 2012

Heidi Dittmar Unforced Grace abundant, beautiful, beginning, calendar, children, completely, creation, cross, day, died, freedom, God, grace, heart, Jesus, join me, joyful, laundry, life, living, love, loved, most, ordinary, phone, rejoicing, relaxing, resting, sacrifice, sister, snuggling, strength, today, ToDos, trust, wonderful

Most Wonderfulest Day!

The Lord is my strength and shield. I trust Him with all my heart. He helps me, and my heart is filled with joy. I burst out in songs of thanksgiving. Psalm 28:7

Raegan is my sister’s mini-me. As with all of my sisters’ children, I fell in love with her the moment I held her in my arms. Raegan is a confident, talkative, full of life little girl. When she was little and her hair was a crown of blonde ringlets, she would walk in just the right way to make every single one of them bounce.

During her first year in pre-school, near Halloween, in the car on the way home Raegan told her mom, “Today was the most wonderfulest day of my life.” Amy shared that with me and I wrote the words Most Wonderfulest on a sticky note and stuck it on my computer. When I look at the note I am not only reminded of Raegan, which of course makes me smile, but more importantly I ask myself, “Was today my most wonderfulest day?”

Too many times I confess that not only was today not my most wonderfulest, I can’t remember when I had a day that could even come close.

So what makes a most wonderfulest day? In Raegan’s case it was something just a little bit out of the ordinary. No expensive gift, not the latest fashion, no grand gesture of love. Nothing more than a little exchange of candy, a few games, and lots of laughter among friends.

What has stopped me from having most wonderfulest days? Yes we have pressures that most children never have to deal with (thankfully). There are bills to pay, calendars to obey, ToDo lists to check off. But couldn’t we get excited about things that are just a little bit out of ordinary?

That phone call to or from a friend, a walk on a beautiful day rejoicing in God’s creation, snuggling for just a few extra minutes, relaxing on the couch in between loads of laundry, or even just resting in the fact that we are loved completely by a God who gets us.

Living a life under the grace of God means that every day should be our most wonderfulest. Jesus died for us so that we can live an abundantly joyful life. His sacrifice means our freedom.

So beginning today I am going to claim each day as my most wonderfulest day! Won’t you join me?