“Everybody likes me, I announced to my mother one day when I was still a toddler. I don’t remember this youthful burst of confidence, but my mother told me about it a few months ago. It seems so unlike me that every time I think of it I smile. I wasn’t bragging or trying to convince anyone; I was just stating a matter of fact. Perhaps only a child could truly believe that everyone enjoyed her presence. Imagine a life where you were convinced that simply being yourself brought joy to others.
I was reminded of that story the other night when I was singing Caleb to sleep. Suddenly I realized that “Jesus loves me, this I know is an echo of the same confidence that I had as a child. It occurred to me that I had never really paid attention to the words of the song: “Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Indeed, Paul prays that the Ephesians would “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, a love “that surpasses knowledge (Eph. 3:18-19). When Jesus calls us to be like little children (Matt. 18:3), I believe part of that means simply accepting His love without question.
How different would my life be if I could let go of all of my self-absorbed insecurities and simply know with a childish confidence that Jesus loves me? I wouldn’t need anything else. I bet I’d act a little more like that little girl who never met a stranger because when I really accept that my Lord loves me it no longer matters whether everybody likes me or not. What a joy it is to know: “Yes, Jesus loves me.
On another note, Caleb did pretty well on the plane. He slept most of the time and the rest of the time he just looked around and played with his toys.
