Lower

The soreness comes on in the late afternoon.  Accompanied by chills, I begin to doubt that it's related to my workout the day before.  Sometimes I have have to be brought low to understand what's truly great.  

Low is where I belong.  Weak.  Helpless. Tired.

But God.

(oh, I love that phrase more and more each time I hear it!)

He became lower than me.  Took my form.  Lived my life and served everyone.  Dug into the hearts of others.  Cared more about them than himself.  And most of all: was obedient to death.  He died a death I deserved so that I could come to him.  Unashamed.

I forget this.  I cling to other things looking for value.  Cling to my to-do list.  Cling to my latest craft.  Cling to the opinions of others.

But my value is high in the eyes of Christ Jesus.  So high, I am privileged to serve low with him.  Those three little children.  That husband.  My friends.  Strangers at the store.

I start this week lower than usual.  Drag myself from the chair and head to bed early on a Sunday night.  Where I rest in bed and in my identity as the beloved.

4503. How I look for pretty stick shaped colored pencils and decide they're too pricey.  And how Carol had already purchased them for the girls in Ecador before I had even looked at them.
4504. How I watch a moth and spider battle it out on the web in my window
4505. How the girls wake every morning asking "Is it my party?"
4506. That we made them feel so special that they want to feel that way each day
4507. That our neighbor could watch Sedryn for our birthday date with the girls
4508. The girls enthusiasm for chopsticks
4509. A sweet little visit with my mom and sister
4510. The girls announcing their fear of the gibbons
4511. Sedryn's first tooth at just past 11 months
4512. Hearing him use the car ramp all by himself
4513. Those sweet wild beachy curls
4514. Using a gift to bless other ladies
4515. Nights of lack of sleep followed by just enough to catch up