Muddy Boots and Candy Canes

Our Ben, 1985

"You have heard the law that says, 'Love your neighbor' and hate your enemy. But I [Jesus] say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you!" (Matthew 5:43-44)

The picture above of our Ben with his muddy boots and candy cane is one of my favorites and to me captures the reality that people, like kids, are messy. 

We love our kids with combed hair and smelling as sweet at  honeysuckle in the summer sun, and we love 'em covered with mud and the sticky of candy canes. Jesus says, likewise, we are to love people sweet and kind and patient, and we're to love the mean-mouthed, angry, impatient, and unkind. For...

"If I could speak all the languages of earth and of angels, but didn't love others, I would only be a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal...Love is patient and kind. It's not jealous or boastful or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged...Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance." (1 Cor. 13:1-7)

May every person we meet today - muddy-hearted or sweet - be met with the kind and patient love of Jesus Christ. And may you, beloved, have yourself a merry Christmas season! I love you, Jill.