just an average day

"What qualities do you see in Jesus that are most important to you?"​
A question I asked the children this week prompted by the devotional I'm reading.  Their answers simple and truthful. 
"He's never failing." 
"He let's you mess up and then picks you up and forgives you right away." 
My personal favorite - "He doesn't weigh you down with rules.  Like, I can eat chocolate chips in the morning and He's not going to be upset about it...I didn't, but I know I could."  (haha!)
"He's trusting."
"Forgiving."
"He never fails you."
"Never lies."
"He never doubts your ability but helps you to keep going."
"He's gentle and lets go of all the stuff you did yesterday."​

I love the way Jesus spent His life with the people around Him.  I love how He walked with the disciples on a sunny Sabbath day without a picnic basket but down a path he knew grew fields of ripened wheat, never failing to supply for their needs.  Bumping into life altering lessons on the way seemed to be the everyday theme, He taught and lived all in the same breath. (Matthew 12) And it's by His breath we now live.  
I love how He asked questions He already knew the answers to so He could pull them into communion with Him and have a moment of contact with the most scorned of humans. 
He didn't need to ask a blind man begging for healing, "what do you want me to do for you?"  Or a woman sick for a dozen years gripping at His hems, "who touched me?"  But for the sake of intimate friendships, He looked into their eyes and asked the questions no one else would ask and gave the answers no one else could give.

Jesus reminds me that there is no greater service for me than the lowering of my abilities to match the capabilities of those around me.  That humbling my heart, my hands and my plans to plumb the line between me and my children draws their little hearts and hands upward.  
They feel heard and acknowledged when I sprawl out on the floor and build with blocks cheering wildly over record breaking heights.  They sense importance and worth when I listen to the story they wrote on the flip side of a tax document without cutting them short to correct their oversight.  They're strengthened when I allow them to bake on their own regardless of the mistakes and messes they will inadvertently make.  And they find genuine friendship as I sit and linger late into night hearing of the dreams and thoughts they hold inside.  ​

There is nothing more exquisite than the life Jesus lived here on earth this I am sure, and there isn't anything more powerful than what He did on the cross.  It's a privilege to know Him better and to be better known by Him as we walk out every average day beside His great and magnificent glory.