The way my mind thinks is definitely a little different now that we have our little Abigail. Today is the first day I’m back at work, but Sally is taking this week off as well still in recovery. This also marks the first day that I’ve been away from my baby and honestly it’s a little distracting. I want to be here and focused, but I also want Abigail here with me. Wrigley and I chilling in the office is great, but there is something missing now that can’t be explained...but I’ll try. All through the pregnancy people (other parents) kept saying that you just can’t understand the immediate love you feel for your child the moment they are born. You think you get it, but it’s so different than you can imagine. I was always told you “really understand” the love of God when you have your own kids. That put me (and you for that matter) behind the curve as far as I was concerned, but I bought it. As I went into the surgery with Sally those things kept running through my head and I couldn’t wait to hold her for the first time so I could experience this love you can’t even imagine. As Abigail was born and they brought her to me for the first time nothing happened. Well, a lot happened but not what I was expecting. Maybe I’m abnormal (yes I am) but I didn’t get a new meaning or revelation of the love of God in that moment...it was just confirmed. I really feel like if anyone can understand the immediate connection you get from having your own kid it’s you...it’s us. We are wired for immediate gratification and I think we understand that better than anyone that came before us. Like I said last month, we are creatures of TIME. We get it. We know how to love immediately. We know what that feels like. We can comprehend loving someone the second we meet them because we have lived our lives preparing for that moment in TIME. So when we meet someone for the first time (especially children) we love them because the love of God has been confirmed in us. There’s nothing new about that...we know how to love but do we really know how to live in preparation for those moments in TIME when love takes over? Do we really know how to experience the love of God in our lives? Those are the questions that are often overlooked in our immediate response of love for others. Living our lives in preparation for certain moments in TIME is significant to the thought of loving immediately. I fell in love with Abigail the day we found out Sally was pregnant, I did it again the day we found out she was a girl, I did it again the day we decided her name, and I did it again every time I prayed for her or talked to her inside the womb. I had 9 months to prepare for the moment she was handed to me so I could love her immediately and really understand love. The good news is we have our whole lives to prepare for the moments in TIME that someone is handed to us. People come into our lives and we realize we do know how to love and the love of God is confirmed. Campers steal our hearts and we realize we do know how to love and the love of God is confirmed. The needy fall in front of us and we can meet some of their needs (been on a mission trip?) and we realize we do know how to love and the love of God is confirmed. The lonely invite themselves in and we realize we can be their friend and we do know how to love and the love of God is confirmed. Our babies poop and pee on us and we realize we do know how to love and the love of God is confirmed. In all these moments in TIME we can choose to love or not to love. In the moments when we choose to love the love of God is confirmed...and the Father’s love is deeper than we can comprehend. So my revelations as a new father are just that...the father’s love is deeper than we can comprehend. Nothing magical happened in the moment they handed Abigail to me, but the process of living my life in preparation to love her fully is supernatural...and the love I feel for her can only come because the love of God is confirmed in the everyday moments in TIME. What are you doing this Christmas season, this finals week, this New Years Eve, and today that is confirming the depth of the love of the Father? How are you living your life in preparation to love someone immediately?