"This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" ~ Mark 9:7

"This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!"

Since I read those words from Mark 9:2-13 in preparation for Transfiguration Sunday, I cannot get them out of my head. Not that I want to. It's as if I had never read that passage, or more correctly, I had never heard those words in my head. The voice of God speaking out. The voice I hear in my head is the voice of a Father who knows his beloved Son is headed toward unconscionable pain and torture. His Son, who is nothing but good and kind and selfless, will die for these stubborn people who don't understand him and can't appreciate him for who he is. So he cries out to the three men who are there, blathering about building dwellings on the mountaintop, "This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him!" It's as if his cry breaks the cloudy, dream state in which the men see Jesus talking with Moses and Elijah and all of a sudden everything is normal again and they are alone with Jesus. What did this cry of God sound like to these men? Did they hear the passionate voice of a Father? Did they hear a mighty cry that could tear the heaven's in two, so powerful that it threw them out of their dream and back into the real world?

God doesn't experience time like we do, I get that. He was and is and will be, all at once. So we might think that because he knows how the story will end, he's okay with the plan. After all, it's His plan. It's his plan to give up his glory and sovereignty to be a man, to know us, to know our pain, to know our weakness. I know that is why he sent Jesus, at once God and man. I think I get that Jesus is that part of him that knows who I am as a human being. But I never once thought of God the Father really understanding who I am as a human. But when I read those words, "This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him!" I felt it to the core.

You don't understand, you can't understand who he is. My child, part of my own being, my precious one. You don't know what he will endure for you! You love him because you have seen him heal the unhealable, teach the unteachable, touch the untouchable, give hope to the hopeless. I know you love him. You love him but you won't be there for him when he needs you! I won't be there for him when he needs me either! I can't! I can't because I sent him to suffer and die. My only Son, my one perfect and spotless lamb. You love him but you will kill him. This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him! Listen to him while you can. Listen to him because soon you will stand by and watch him die a horrible death on a cross. Listen to him because his body will be beaten, broken and pierced until he pours out every ounce of his blood as a sacrifice for your sins! Listen to him because he loves you, he loves you enough to die for you. Listen to him because I love you enough to make a new covenant in his blood that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. Listen to him because through his sacrifice of love he will conquer sin and death for all time. Listen to him, he is my Son whom I love.

God gave up his glory and became a man to understand me. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, ever Three and ever One. The great mystery. Mighty God and Creator of all that is seen and unseen gets me. Jesus the Christ, Lamb of God, Savior and Messiah gets me. Holy Spirit, Counselor and Breath of Heaven living in me gets me. What do I get? I get that I am the child of God whom he loves. I get that he gave it all up and died for me. I get that he always has and always will meet me where I am-no matter where that is.  I will listen to him. I will listen to that greatest of all love and pray that it transfigures me so the light I shine will reveal Jesus to others and they will listen to him. They will love him, they will follow his Way.

My Valentine Blessing

My baby girl Melissa will be 30 years old tomorrow on Valentine's Day. Where has the time gone? My girls, Angela and Melissa, were my whole life for so long, and I can't imagine life without them or my sweet grandbabies (Hunter, Ty, Melanee, Rebekah and Sam).

My daughters opened my eyes to what living is all about. They made me selfless, brave, compassionate, strong, joyous beyond measure, terrified, helpless, humble, proud (of them), embarrassed, ashamed (of myself), generous, capable, curious, trusting, suspicious, amazed, and on and on. they make my life complete, they made me "Ma-ma," "Mommy," "Mom," and "Mo-THER (with eye-roll)," and I survived it all to be a better person than I ever could have been without them. Most of all they taught me about unconditional love, and when you have that love for someone you can understand the love of God. And when you realize you can never, ever protect your child from every evil and danger this world holds no matter what sacrifice you make, it brings you to your knees before the only one whose sacrifice is enough.  And when that happens, life comes full circle.

I praise and thank my good and gracious God for the gift of my girls, and I thank my girls for helping me come to an understanding of the true sacrificial love and forgiveness that is my Jesus. I am blessed far beyond anything I could imagine or hope for.