His Love Is Steadfast...

On Sunday, we were learning about God's steadfast love aka God's "hesed" love for us. What is hesed love? Hesed love is a love of loyalty, faithfulness, and forgiveness, which can be expressed through acts of love, not dutiful love, a love that never stops pursuing and is unending.  It was a great reminder of how amazing God's love, mercy, and forgiveness is towards us, even at our most sinful state.  Psalm 36 7-12 reads:

How precious is your steadfast love, O God!

The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings.

They feast on the abundance of your house,

an give them drink from the river of your delights.  

For with you is the fountain of life;

in your light do we see light.

Oh, continue your steadfast love to those who know you,

and your righteousness to the upright of heart!

Let not the foot of arrogance come upon me,

nor the hand of the wicked drive me away.

There the evildoers lie fallen;

they are thrust down, unable to rise.

Our Pastor, Nick, was expressing the importance about really knowing God and pursuing Him and studying Him all the time. He used the analogy of a husband picking out gifts for his wife. I may not explain this exactly as he did, but basically he said, 

"You know the difference between the husband who's given no thought to his wife's birthday or Valentine's day. Who, at the last minute, goes down to Kroger and gets some tulips and a card, after they've all been picked through, and worse, picks the card with a gray haired lady and goofy glasses on the front, verses the guy who studies his wife, to know her, and makes it his desire and mission to see what she most needs and what will most bless her and then with no regard for what it may cost, goes, gets, and presents her with THAT which with bless her.  It's not dutiful.  It's not the love of requirement.  It's the love of delight."

After church let out, I was walking to the van with Ty and he said, "Mom, can you please take me to Walgreens?"  I said, "Why?"  He said, "I've been planning this during the entire sermon today!" [not good, he should have been listening to Pastor Nick his future father-in-law].  I said, "Planning what?"  He said, "I want to get something for Cami for Valentine's Day!"  Ty has "hesed love" for Cami. LOL! He's loved her since he was 4.  No lie! As his mom however, I try hard NOT to encourage this "love" because as he gets older it could become an "issue".  I didn't want to stop him from doing something kind for Cami though, especially since it was all his idea.  He received $25.00 for Valentine's Day and apparently brought it with him to church. So, I agreed to take him to Walgreens. We drove there, left the rest of the family in the van, and Ty picked out, for Cami, a box of chocolates and a stuffed animal. He also tried to buy her flowers, but I told him he couldn't spend the entire $25.00. He had a conversation with the cashier and the guy standing behind him in line. The gentleman said, "Man, this must really be a special lady!" He blushed and nodded yes.  He couldn't bring himself to speak about it.  I said, "I think he's got a hard task ahead of him.  It's my pastor's only daughter and she has 4 brothers."  Ouch!!! That's a lot of testosterone to get approvals from. Needless to say, that entire conversation caused him to be 50 shades of red.  LOL!

After his purchase, Ty came home and continued with his plan to write her a letter.  It wasn't going too well.  He was getting frustrated at his "horrible handwriting".  He wrote the same note over and over again, 6 times! He was getting so frustrated he eventually asked me to write the note. I, of course, declined.  

Ty had NO idea I was taking his photos.  If he did, he would have been SO mad.  I put my phone on silent and took the photo. Trickery!

He eventually settled on the note, which was hand-written, on a heart-shaped doily.  This poor kid is Darren and I combined, which means he's DOUBLY ANAL! Is that possible? 

How would the gift get to Cami?  After all, Ty doesn't have his license and Cami lives way to far to walk. Nobody is riding their bike or electric scooter in 7 degree weather these days.  LOL!  Oh, don't worry, Ty had a plan for that too! "Mom, you are going to drive me to Cami's house before Dad's basketball game and I am going to leave her gift by their pad lock door!"  He's a TRIP! He really did have the entire plan all figured out. It's a good thing I am a kind mom and obliged.  

It gets better.  On the way to Cami's house, I said, "What if Cami is home?"  Ty said, "She's not!" I said, "How do you know this?"  He said, "After church I quizzed Gabe on his plans.  He had no idea WHY I was asking him and I didn't tell him why I was asking him."  SNEAKY and SLY.  Gabe is Cami's youngest brother, Ty's best friend.  

I dropped him off, he ran up their driveway, dropped the gift by the "pad lock door", and ran back, to the van, with the BIGGEST smile E-V-E-R.  He was so proud of himself and so excited.

Just as another cute "side note": I had ZERO involvement other than being Ty's taxi cab driver.  He asked, "Should I wrap it?" I said, "That's up to you?"  He said, "Can you wrap it?" I said, "No, but you can!" I gave him a red gift bag.  He said, "Shouldn't I put some paper in it?"  He was referring to tissue paper.  I said, "If you want." Normally, I would help him, but I didn't want this to seem like it was my idea.  I wanted every part of it to be HIS idea because IT WAS!

The puppy and box of chocolates were a sweet idea, but he took it one step further.  He tied an "I love you" heart to the neck of the dog.  It was the heart that I actually gave to him, in his lunch box, the Friday before Valentine's Day, but I guess it meant more to him to give it to Cami.  #howstinkingadorableisthat aka How stinking adorable is that? LOL!

It's a beautiful and innocent love that Ty seems to have for Cami, that has truly been steadfast. It's funny how Ty's plan came on a day when we learned about God's steadfast love for us.  I think the analogy Pastor Nick gave to the congregation, struck a chord with Ty.  He was listening up to that point and then thought, "Man, I need to plan out a great gift idea for Cami!" And he did.  And it was so sweet! 

I made sure Gretchen, Cami's mom, was okay that he did that before their family arrived home.  Gretchen was tickled to death and said, "He's so sweet! Of course Cami can have it!"  Ty was on pins and needles wondering what Cami thought.  When he didn't hear ANYTHING from her, that night, he said, "I bet Nick and Gretchen threw it away!"  I didn't tell him that I had spoken to Gretchen.  Cami did text Tyson that night to thank him.  Ty didn't receive the text until the morning, but it was the FIRST thing he laid eyes on when he woke up.  He came into my room with a big smile and said, "Mom!!!! Cami texted me and thanked me, saying it was so sweet of me to do that for her!"  Gretchen said, "Cami said that she was impressed that Tyson had the guts to do it!"  LOL!  I told Gretch, "Don't be too impressed! He knew Cami wasn't going to be home.  I think you can throw the "guts" part right out the window."  LOL!!!!! #puppylove

"Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, my unfailing love for you will not be shaken." Isaiah 54:10