Like many others who have adopted “kids from hard places” we are doing some therapeutic work with our four-year-old, Precious Maryn. Part of our therapy is to do lots of reading about sensory processing issues, and how the brain works. Its really fascinating stuff, I think. I’m loving what I am learning, not just for my own parenting and the health of my kids, but also for the families I work with in public health. I see “at-risk” families with kids who almost always “come” from hard places….so its a double blessing. In the book, I Love You Rituals, by Becky Bailey, she says this on age 39. “Love travels from the worthy to the worthy. This means that to give and receive love, you must value yourself as well as the child.”
I read this as I was panting, on my exercise machine, and even then, breathlessly, my breath caught in my throat. My eyes filled with tears in that way that you know the Holy Spirit has squeezed your soul…..and believe it or not, I kept moving…and reading. I’ve come back to it now. Love travels from the worthy to the worthy. There is no room for that feeling of unworthiness…..in the act of love. Satan can fill us with thoughts of unworthiness in how we parent, in how we look or dress or speak or even pray and/or worship. He’s pretty good at it, actually. But, he cannot…..he cannot deny or remove the truth that love (God) travels from the worthy to the worthy…..because the Lord Himself says so. He is the author of love….therefore….all are worthy of His love, and of the love we strive to show to each other, in God’s image.
We are worthy of loving our kids, whether they are slightly off-kilter or severly wounded….we are worthy. We never deny that our children are worthy of our love….but I think that we sometimes feel unworthy of the calling. Love travels from the worthy to the worthy. God makes sure of it. It is so easy to love my children….and so hard too. But Love travels. It does. He does. He moves from the worthy to the worthy.
You are worthy of love, and of loving. You are worthy of giving and receiving love. Love, by definition, demands the worthiness of it. It is also true for our children. I want to make sure that my kids all understand that they are worthy….Lord, help me to make sure that they know.
