“They may be heathens, but they’re my heathens.” Or from Dolly Parton’s new special Coat of Many Colors- “You’re my worm.” We loved them before they were born, and we fall in love with them when we meet them in person, when we get slobbery kisses, when they hug our necks, and when they learn to be sweet all on their own. But what about when our children are mean, hateful, aggravating, and not at all what we have been trying to teach them to be? We still love them. We love them because they are ours to love. How does God love us? We are sinful and wretched worms. We are heathens. Even in our sin and shame, we are his creation. He made us and he knows us and he still loves us (Jeremiah 1:5, Romans 5:8). It's pretty astounding to imagine that love. Google Search: How long to punish a child I can’t bear to punish the girls all evening for something (even something terrible) they did at school. At some point in their little brilliant minds, it stops being a less
grace upon grace.