Trust God from the bottom of your heart;
don't try to figure out everything on your own.
Listen for God's voice in everything you do, everywhere you go;
He's the one who will keep you on track.
Don't assume that you know it all.
Run to God! Run from evil!
Your body will glow with health,
your very bones will vibrate with life!
Honor God with everything you own;
give him the first and the best.
Your barns will burst,
your wine vats will brim over.
But don't, dear friend, resent God's discipline;
don't sulk under his loving correction.
It's the child he loves that God corrects;
a father's delight is behind all this.

The above is Proverbs 3:5-12 from The Message. Amazing, isn't it? Trust, Listen, Don't assume, Run to Him. He has our answers. He has a plan, a path for each of us. We can give up our egoes, our selfishness, our desires which stem from human frailty. He offers us everything if we will just follow Him. We will glow with health, our very bones will vibrate with life, all of our real needs -- not those things that society tells us we need -- will be met and exceeded.

Does He expect us to be perfect? No, but once we make that decision to follow Him, He is our best friend. He will love us. He is there to correct us when we mess up. He is compelled by His delight in us. Out of our love and appreciation for Him, we do our best to follow Him and be His disciples.

I do get held back by my humanity from time to time but I strive to show this love to our son. I strive to be unconditional with my love, to gently and firmly correct him, to provide answers and guidance, to give him the things he really needs (not the things that the commercials on Nickelodeon tell him he needs). And, in the midst of all this, I am looking at him, watching him, and I am grinning from ear to ear. Even when he messes up, at least on the inside, I am grinning from ear to ear, happy that he is advancing, he is learning, he is growing. Happy that I get to be a part of the life of someone in whom I take so much delight.

I believe that, just as I do with Evan, God is always grinning at me. Even when I mess up, I hope that he is always grinning at me -- at least on the inside -- just because He loves me so very much. My life couldn't be the same if I didn't believe that.