When You Need to Know You are Crazy-Loved

When You Need to Know You are Crazy-Loved by Pearl Allard (Look Up Sometimes)

I had just settled on the couch, grateful to have crossed the day’s finish line with two kids intact and in bed. I eagerly reached for a book I’d been longing to read, when my six-year-old padded out of her room – one bare foot and one slipper-socked foot. I bristled, wondering with the psalmist how long, O Lord?

Dear daughter held up the partner slipper sock in one hand and a gray pom-pom in the other. The slipper had (past tense) a pair of dangly gray pom-poms attached at the top which I was preparing to mentally curse. She wanted me to fix it.

Yeah sure, kid. No problem. I’m on it. And by the way, YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN BED!  I choked back the destructive spew and accepted the extended slipper sock and offending gray pom-pom. I examined them (come on, you know that deserved a gold star right there), but I informed her it wasn’t getting fixed that night, IF it was even fixable. She looked crestfallen.

I peered at the small mass of gray fibers coming loose in my hand. I’d wait until she was in bed and then throw away this whole fraying mess.

“Do you think you can fix it?” Her little voice held such angst.

It was a gray pom-pom for crying out loud, not a broken limb, or a break-up with a boyfriend, or a life-or-death matter, not even a blip on the radar of important…to me.

I looked up into her earnest expression watching me. Hoping. Trusting.

I sighed. When she’s grown, will she remember me shoving aside what she valued? Or will she remember me caring about even the outlandish details of her life? I sighed, again.

“Couldn’t you sew it back on?” I sensed her trying to lighten the workload, offering the most helpful suggestion she knew.

It was just a mess on my lap, and it was all kinds of unimportant and…it mattered. I sighed for the third time.

“Yes, I can probably sew it on,” I admitted. That seemed to satisfy her since she smiled and, with both feet now in one slipper sock, hopped her way back to bed. Crazy girl. This mothering thing…yeah.

I set the book aside, hauled my rear off the couch, and rummaged through craft supplies, shaking my head. Was I actually comparing shades of gray thread?

Ridiculous Love - Happy Valentine's Day by Pearl Allard (Look Up Sometimes)

Back on the couch, I stitched the fraying mess – and realized I was actually stitching up something far more significant. Is this what real love does? Stitches things, people, back together? Reconnects the disconnected? Takes the time to do crazy for the sake of demonstrating love? I marveled at the way the eye of a needle opened my eyes.

I paused and looked up. Hanging over our fireplace were three crosses – just small hot-glued branches – beneath small heart lights I’d strung around the mantel. The cross, a symbol of the most crazy love ever. And small hearts connected together because of it. Radiating light. In that moment I tasted a richer flavor of God’s love for me. Why does He love me? Me with a wandering heart and reluctance to share what’s been lavished on me. Crazy-amazing love.

How fitting so near Valentine’s Day.

I tied off the knot and surveyed the repair. It didn’t seem nearly so costly a sacrifice anymore. Those few interrupted minutes a disguised opportunity to participate in something much larger than irritating gray pom-poms. Any investment of love, no matter how small, is really part of something big; because God IS love. I’m slow to see, slow to look up. But thank God, I didn’t completely botch this. (Lord knows how many other times I have!)

May this Valentine’s Day bring a fresh awareness of how much God loves you with a crazy-amazing love. Romans 5 is an amazing chapter to reflect on, if you get the chance today. But the verse below from John is a good summary.

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. John 3:16 ERV

14 thoughts on “When You Need to Know You are Crazy-Loved

  1. Pearl, I know the feeling of wondering how something so seemingly unimportant can be meaningful to my daughter. I love this line, “I marveled at the way the eye of a needle opened my eyes.” Thanks for letting me into your world and reminding me to see the little things as an opportunity to nurture.

    1. Charity, we can remind each other! To view the little moments as opportunities for big love. Thankful to journey together through life. You are an encouragement to me!

  2. Pearl, I love these little slice-of-life pieces. Every mother can relate to this one. “Please, Lord, can I just have these last few minutes of the day to myself?”

    Yes, every act of love is a big deal, even when it seems insignificant.

    I never want to minimize anything my grandchildren view as important. If it’s important to one of them, it’s important to me, because, guess what? My Father is interested in anything that is important to me and he invites me to bring all things to Him.

    1. Debbie, thanks for your kind words. It’s in the slices of life I get sliced to the core with conviction of how selfish I am, apart from Christ’s intervening grace. May He continue and finish the work in us He’s started! Your grandchildren are blessed to have a grandma so intent on loving them! That’s the stuff legacies are made from. 🙂

  3. Love the picture of your daughter hopping away, two feet in one slipper. 🙂

    This: “Is this what real love does? Stitches things, people, back together? Reconnects the disconnected? Takes the time to do crazy for the sake of demonstrating love?”

    Yes it is, Pearl. So glad Jesus did that on Calvary and in some sense does this for us every day in our lives. So grateful for His loving-kindness, patience and grace. Grateful for you too. <3

    1. I’m sure one of your kids has done something similar! 😉 So with you, Rachael! Thank You, Jesus, for Your fresh-daily grace and this beautiful sister in Christ.

    1. God is so amazing like that, isn’t He? Michelle, may you be given a fresh awareness of how dearly He loves you in personally significant ways today. Hugs!

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