Melting God's Heart

Today my boys melted my heart. Each of them made me smile with pride as well as melted my heart. As I thought back on the day, I started to think about how God sees our actions and thoughts. Do we melt his heart?

Here's what happened.

We took the boys to a Sesame Street Live production this afternoon. Both the boys enjoy Sesame Street, but Cade is especially fond of Elmo as well as Cookie Monster, Bert, Ernie. Well Cade just LOVES Sesame Street.

When the curtains opened and all the characters started to sing and dance, Cade went crazy! He was standing on his chair and started jumping and screaming. He had the biggest smile. And just kept looking back and Keith and I. It was like he was saying "wow, is this really happening?" Keith equates Cade's overall reaction to the reactions you saw of people when the Beatles first landed in the US. :) Although Cade didn't say "Thank you" directly, I could just feel his excitement. Toward the end of the show, he just sat with me and would hug me over and over again with these long, tight hugs.

As I sit here tonight and think of Cade's reaction, I think of my reaction when God surprises me. When there is the unexpected check in the mail. When there is the really good sale on those items I needed. When a space in the full parking lot opens. When he blesses me with a unexpected client. When he surprised me with a call from a friend. How do I react? Even if I don't thank him directly, am I so excited that it melts his heart because he saw how much it meant to me?

When we got home, we noticed that the strong winds from the day had blown over our garbage can and two recyclable bins. Actually, the bins had blown a little bit over our side hill. Keith and I talked about how the bins had blown over. We decided we would get them after we got settled back in the house. We all got out of the car. Kory saw two of his friends and said hi. And then while Keith and I got Cade and the rest of the stuff out of the car, Kory walked down the hill and started bringing up the bins - one at a time.

I was speechless. We hadn't asked Kory to do that. We hadn't demanded Kory do that. We didn't even suggest Kory do that. Instead, Kory saw a need, and he just took care of it. He didn't ask us if it was okay to get them. He didn't ask if he should get them. He just did it. It melted my heart.

Tonight I started thinking....How many times have I melted God's heart just because I saw a need and took care of it. Maybe it was that kind word I said to a stranger. Maybe it was the extras I gave to a friend. Maybe it was the gift card I felt prompted to pick up and send to a friend. Maybe it was just brightening someone's day with a note. Did it melt God's heart when I saw those needs and just took care of them? Did he stand back, smile, and think, "Wow. Thanks for taking care of that"?

As I process it all tonight, I hope I melt God's heart as much as my boys melt mine.