It is so humbling to be loved by a child, they do so freely and without inhibition or judgement; I wonder what the world would be like if we all felt free to love one another with that same childlike innocence? My heart is happy tonight.
For those that don't know, my day job is working as a nanny and a babysitter, but for me it is so much more than just a day job. My kids have my heart. I am invested in them so fully that their challenging days become my challenging days and their good days become my good days. They love me so freely and openly and I try to love them the same way. To pour love and affection and words of wisdom and gentle guidance into them as I travel their paths with them.
Jesus talks a lot about children. He tells his disciples not to prevent them but rather to let the children come to him, to let them love him. My favorite images of Jesus are those where he has a child on his lap and children around his feet as he tells stories and shares his good news with them. Children know what it means to radically love like Jesus did and wants us to do. Before they are hardened by their worlds, by their cultures, by their experiences, they learn to radically love everyone and everything around them. This way of life is what adults spend the rest of their lives trying to return to, trying to unlearn the thingsthat have hardened them towards feeling more, loving more, giving more.
These past few years serving as a nanny have challenged me to radically love my kids the way they love me, but also to radically love all of the other people in my life. This is a lesson I am so grateful for and when it's hard to remember, I try to look back on evenings like tonight. Evenings where my feet were washed humbly by my children amidst giggles and wiping noses, evenings where I could laugh to the point of tears with all the love I have been so graciously showered with that I don't deserve. This is radical love. Amd it has the power to change lives.
Love radically.
Live fully.
Embrace the moment.
