Life as I know it is...Nighttime 

Every night before I go to bed, I sneak into the girls’ rooms to check on them. Some nights I pray and other nights I just kiss them on the cheek, and some nights I just can’t resist taking a picture of them. They just make me smile. They are so innocent, abandoned, trusting, and yes, Kendall is still accessorizing (I even think she's wearing lip gloss). 

All the crazy moments in our day just fade away--the stubborn will or not listening, the tattling, whining, or ‘attitude’--It all just erases, and I all I feel is this intense delight for them, a fierce desire to protect them, and an ernest prayer for them to realize their worth. We are restored and there is no shame; the slate in wiped clean and we can begin a fresh new day tomorrow. They are my beloved daughters.

Then it occurred to me one night that God sees us like this. He sees us at our weakest and most vulnerable, during the darkest moments of life. And He beams with delight for us. He may sing us a song, kiss us on the cheek, or whisper ‘I love you’, ‘I have chosen you’, ‘I am mighty to save you’. He doesn’t see how we failed to remember Him during the day or judged someone or willfully disobeyed. No, He sees Jesus’ righteousness clothing us. He embraces us and we are restored. No shame because a new morning is coming. We are God’s beloved children.

“If I make my bed in the depths, You are there!” Psalm 139:8 I say, bring on the night, God, that the morning may come!