Ooh, Ahh!

As you can imagine, over the last three months Chris and I have had a rotating door of family coming to meet and spend time with Mercy. These have been some very special moments for Chris and me. Getting to see and experience the love that our parents and sisters and aunts and uncles have for our baby girl, and witnessing some of the precious moments between them has been awesome. Listening to my dad sing to Mercy the song he sang to me growing up, watching Chris's dad from a distance as he fed Mercy for the first time, just the two of them, watching the tears roll down my sister's face the first time we placed Mercy in her arms... I could go on and on... One of our favorite things is just standing at a distance and listening to them ooh and ahh over her. Just like us, none of them can get enough of her, they could stare at her all day, and still not have had enough! In their eyes, she is just about perfect!

I was listening to Chris's parents ooh and ahh just the other weekend, and I wondered... does God, our Father, ooh and ahh over us??

...afterall, when creating the universe, He stated that everything He made was "good." But when He made man from the dust of the earth, He stated that man was "very good." That seems like a type of oohing and ahhing, doesn't it?

Unfortunately, we read that not long after those very words were spoken, mankind ruined "very good..." and we continue to ruin "very good" to this day, with our constant sinfulness and unrepentance.

And really, are we that different from Mercy?? In the very moments that her grandparents were in awe of her apparent perfection, she was probably stinkin' it up with a big poopy diaper. That same night, she most likely screamed and woke her parents up several times, resulting in a very sleepy momma the next day, I'm sure she peed on several clean outfits each day that weekend, and she most certainly spit up on almost all of us several times. She ruins perfection. It's an unfair standard though... She's a baby, and those are all things that babies do. Do they make her less precious in our eyes, or make us love her any less? Please... Of course not! We couldn't love this kid more than we do when she pees on us, it's just so precious and hilarious, I wanna pick her up and squeeze her adorableness! ...of course, first I have to clean her.

Similarly, "very good" is a standard we can't reach. We are a sinful people. By nature, we will never reach "very good." We ruin it each and every day... we're human and we're sinful and that's what we do. Of course, when we are in Christ, does our sinfulness cause Him to love us any less?? I don't think it does... 

But... because we're sinful and God is holy, we cannot be in His presence covered in sin. We have to be cleaned first!

Isn't it awesome that we belong to the best cleanser of all time? When Jesus gave His life up on the cross, each of His children were washed clean! He even calls us His treasured possession! I think that sounds like some ooh's and ahh's, don't you? 

BUT... read this again: "Similarly, "very good" is a standard we can't reach." A couple of side notes that make our situation with sin very different from Mercy's situation as an infant. "Very good" is NOT an unfair standard for us, and our sin nature does NOT give us a free pass to sin. Unlike Mercy, who get's a free pass to pee on us and scream at 3am, WE are called to turn from our sin and follow Christ. We are called to reach for the goal of "very good" knowing that it is unattainable and the only way we can be clean in God's presence is through Jesus Christ. Isn't it fantastically awesome that we are so deeply loved by our Creator that we are given the opportunity to turn from our sin and be clean?? Gosh, I love that!

So, we went to the doctor Tuesday... Mercy was 5lb 13.5oz! She had gained an ounce a day since our last visit, and if that has continued, she should be right at SIX POUNDS today!! I can't believe it, she will have tripled her birthweight before we know it! She is getting so big, and we couldn't be more in love with her preciousness. She has just as much personality as she did in the NICU plus lots of smiles! She makes eye contact with us and follows us with her eyes, she picks her head up when she's laying against us and looks right into our eyes! She is so strong and so fantastic! It won't be long before we can take her out and introduce her to the world! Can't wait for that!

Thanks for sticking around and keeping us all in your prayers! We continue to grow together and learn from each other and it. is. awesome!