Babe Magnet Captures This Babe

Day 3 of 365 days of "Seizing the Moments" in photos this year.

What could be closer to our Heavenly Father than the purity and preciousness of a baby? This little angel was across the aisle from me on my flight from Seattle to Dallas today. His shirt said "Babe Magnet" on it. He was. He captured my heart and drew me to him the entire trip. I haven't had a guy flirt with me like that in a very long time. LOL. He was a happy and peaceful baby all the way which made everyone around him fall in love with him, too.

As I watched the pride and joy that his daddy had in Him, I thought about the pride and joy we must bring to our Heavenly Father. This little charmer on the plane today was so loved by his daddy and that love was in no way performance-based. That little guy couldn't do anything on his own, to merit any more love than he already had from his daddy.

Did you know the love our Father has for us isn't performance-based either? We can't do enough to settle the score, to merit His favor, or to deserve the ultimate price of love He paid for us. He loves us just because we are His kids, the sheep of His pasture, His pearls of great price, the apples of His eyes. There is no gift we could ever give Him that could repay His love, except for one gift. We can give him ourselves, totally and utterly devoted to Him.

I think I'll slip on my "God Magnet" shirt so my devotion to Him keeps on making Him smile big at me as I bring Him pride and joy.

The Pearl of Great Price

God is relentless in His pursuit of us. He speaks to us in a thousand different ways, endeavoring to get our attention. He is passionate in His love for us, and patient in His tolerance of us. And, just in case you ever doubt your self-worth, here is proof positive of how special and amazing you are:

In Matthew 13:45-46, Jesus told a simple little story about a merchant who was on a venture, trying to find expensive, beautiful gems. He was especially interested in finding pearls. Jesus said this man, looking for valuable pearls, found one pearl of great price. It was so exquisite, so beautiful, so rare, so valuable, he sold everything he had and he went and he bought that pearl.

YOU are the pearl of great price and God’s highest treasure. He searched far and wide for you, and He was overjoyed when He finally found you. You may have been covered with a little dirt when He first dug you up, but that didn’t matter to Him. He saw the beauty inside you, and He is committed to cleaning and polishing you until you glow with His radiance. Yes, you are His precious child who possesses the character and likeness of Him, the perfect Pearl. And doesn't that make us want to return His love by a relentess, consuming and passionate pursuit of Him?