Slobbery Kisses Here & From Above

My little Emma has become quite the affectionate little girl. From day one, she has been smiling and spreading those smiles to anyone in sight. Lately, though, she's added to this. Anytime someone picks her up, for any reason whatsoever, she starts a grand goodbye. She waves with one little hand, and with the other she is blowing slobbery kisses in between each "buhbye!" If you give her a squeeze she starts planting those big slobbery kisses right on your face. If you aren't looking at her, she will take her chubby little hands and turn your face to hers and then give you a big slobbery kiss. It's not just the goodbyes either. Yesterday, as the boys came home from school, she heard them starting up the stairs (kind of hard to miss all that noise - but that's another story). As soon as the door opened one little crack, she started the biggest celebration ever. She threw her arms up in the air (think touchdown!) and starts screeching "YAY" and "WHOOOO-WAY." This of course made both boys smile bigger than humanly possible and start their own round of "yay" and "hooray - it's Emma!" What a welcome home after a long day of school - and what fun for her to be able to greet the boys that way and be given just as much love and affection in return - times two!

Emma is constantly giving me visuals of biblical concepts. Her exuberant goodbyes and hellos remind me of stories like the prodigal son (when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him... bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry) and the reunion of Jacob and Esau after so many years (Esau was also running to meet Jacob, and gave him a big bear hug, and kissed him, and they both wept tears of joy at seeing one another after so many long years.) To Emma, it doesn't matter if you're returning after a day at school or just from a few minutes in another room, she is going to greet you as if you are a long-lost loved one finally coming home. As she covers us in sloppy kiss after sloppy kiss, I have to wonder just how much more excited Jesus is going to be when He welcomes us home after our time here on earth is over. I watch Emma trying to jump up and down on her pudgy little legs and clapping her hands in joy and I can just picture Jesus with a huge smile, open arms and rushing over to say "welcome home."

The thing is, we don't have to wait until we're dead, buried and risen again to be greeted like that by Jesus. In fact, we can experience that warm welcome every single time we say His name. When we wake up in the morning and start our day with a prayer to Him, He's there, super-excited and greeting us with a "Good Morning My beautiful child! Isn't this an incredible day I've created for you? It's so good to hear from you this morning! I can't wait to show you what I have in store for you today!" During the day as we pray to Him, He's there waiting eagerly to greet us each time, whether it's been 20 minutes or 20 hours. As we get ready for bed and end our day in prayer, He's so excited to hear from us again and so thankful that we are going to allow Him to be the last conversation we have that day, and that He gets to "tuck us in" for the night. He is so pleased to have us calling on Him, making Him a part of our everyday lives. He's waiting each time to celebrate with us and cover us with His kisses from Heaven. The may not be as wet and full of baby slobber as Emma's kisses, but those heavenly kisses can change our attitudes and outlooks, and turn the worst of days into days full of blessings.

Here's the thing... in order to get heavenly hugs and kisses from our Father, we have to turn to Him. Sometimes we're looking towards Him and are ready for His affection. Sometimes, just as Emma takes her hands and turns our faces towards her so she can kiss us, Jesus uses His hands to turn our eyes from earthly things and helps us focus our eyes on Him, so He can gift us with His hugs and kisses (blessings). If you're not feeling the Love, maybe you need to turn your face towards Him so He can kiss your face.