I ub u

For those of you who know my son Ryan, it will be of no surprise to know that he was talking long before he was walking. In fact, he was saying words by the time he was 7 months old and starting to put sentences together by 10 months of age. Ironically, he is the least talkative of all four of our kids. When he was about 11 months old we were visiting friends in Charleston for a few days. One afternoon we were reading a book, which was no surprise, as this was Ryan's favorite pasttime. After finishing the book, I looked down at him and his bright blue eyes and said, "Ryan, I love you". Glaring back at me with those same bright blue eyes, he said, "I ub u" (translated I love you). My heart did about ten backflips as I squeezed him tightly. My boy had just said he loved me and, at that moment in time, I would have given him anything his heart desired. I wanted to lavish my love on him. Remembering this time in my life, made me also think about how God desires for us to look at Him and say, "I love you." As glad as my heart was to hear those words out of Ryan's mouth, God's heart is so much more overjoyed when His child, His creation, His masterpiece, says to him I adore you. Just as I wanted to lavish my love on Ryan when he expressed love to me, God wants to lavish his love on us. John 3:1 "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him."