Daily Reading
Pursue with Intention
Today's Daily Reading is from Stasi's new book The Ladder of Love, available now — order your copy today!
I love Christmastime. The twinkle lights. The world all dressed up. The carols cheer us as they play over loudspeakers wherever we go. Everyone seems to be in a better mood. Plus, I love presents, both giving them and receiving them, and in my marriage my husband is very good at giving them. (I know. I’m extremely blessed.) In fact, my husband is the champion of the Christmas stocking.
Shortly into our now forty- three- year marriage, as money- strapped newlyweds we surrendered giving each other Christmas presents and chose instead to fill stockings for one another. They are Noel- morning surprises, morning delights! We fill each other’s in secret on Christmas Eve, then sneak out to the living room and hide them until it’s the official time to delve into them, each in turn.
That first year, I did my best to fill his. I know what he likes and I’m aware of what he needs. His stocking was a version of both, and he joyfully exclaimed over the cans of sardines— yes, he likes them— but better the dark chocolates.
When I opened mine, it was a stocking on a whole other level. The man knew me; he had been paying attention. A new journal followed the lip balm I kept borrowing from him. The Mozart ball candy from a specialty store that I love, reminding me of a trip to Salzburg I took as a teenager, thrilled me.
I love Christmastime. The twinkle lights. The world all dressed up. The carols cheer us as they play over loudspeakers wherever we go. Everyone seems to be in a better mood. Plus, I love presents, both giving them and receiving them, and in my marriage my husband is very good at giving them. (I know. I’m extremely blessed.) In fact, my husband is the champion of the Christmas stocking.
Shortly into our now forty- three- year marriage, as money- strapped newlyweds we surrendered giving each other Christmas presents and chose instead to fill stockings for one another. They are Noel- morning surprises, morning delights! We fill each other’s in secret on Christmas Eve, then sneak out to the living room and hide them until it’s the official time to delve into them, each in turn.
That first year, I did my best to fill his. I know what he likes and I’m aware of what he needs. His stocking was a version of both, and he joyfully exclaimed over the cans of sardines— yes, he likes them— but better the dark chocolates.
When I opened mine, it was a stocking on a whole other level. The man knew me; he had been paying attention. A new journal followed the lip balm I kept borrowing from him. The Mozart ball candy from a specialty store that I love, reminding me of a trip to Salzburg I took as a teenager, thrilled me.
I felt a little embarrassed of the one I had given him, but I also blushed in delight at the tangible proof of being known. Something deep within every human heart responds when we are seen and delighted in. I know it’s a rare occurrence for most of us, but it is what we are made for. We are meant to be known and delighted in. We long for it.
Did you know that God does as well?
We are His image bearers, after all, so wouldn’t it make sense that the God whose image we bear longs to be known and delighted in too?
He does.
Oh, how He does. He does long to be known and delighted in by you.
Dear reader, there is a sweetness in communion with Jesus through knowing Him that is available to each and every one of us. We desire it in our inmost being, and astoundingly, our God desires it as well. This “knowing” matures and develops over our lifetimes, but intimacy with Jesus grows exponentially when we pursue Him with intention. We were made for communion with the Trinity every moment of our lives.
We. Were. Made. For. It. Knowing Him gives us the inner joy and strength not merely to survive our lives but to soar in them. Through the major and the minor. In the broken and the beautiful.
Want more? Order your copy of The Ladder of Love today
Did you know that God does as well?
We are His image bearers, after all, so wouldn’t it make sense that the God whose image we bear longs to be known and delighted in too?
He does.
Oh, how He does. He does long to be known and delighted in by you.
Dear reader, there is a sweetness in communion with Jesus through knowing Him that is available to each and every one of us. We desire it in our inmost being, and astoundingly, our God desires it as well. This “knowing” matures and develops over our lifetimes, but intimacy with Jesus grows exponentially when we pursue Him with intention. We were made for communion with the Trinity every moment of our lives.
We. Were. Made. For. It. Knowing Him gives us the inner joy and strength not merely to survive our lives but to soar in them. Through the major and the minor. In the broken and the beautiful.
Want more? Order your copy of The Ladder of Love today