This is Grandson Number One. When we were taking family pictures at Thanksgiving, he asked me to snap this one of him with his great-grandmother. Note the look of adoration on her face. Yeah, we all look at John Michael that way. (Okay, the male members of the family probably don’t have this exact expression. But they pretty much share the sentiment.)
We don’t look at John with this kind of love and pride because he carries our legacy. Although that is awesome. I think it is something even deeper than that. I think when John was born, we may have understood something more about God, actually.
My rather simplistic theology is that God created humans because His love is so big it had to be expressed. He had to create humans so He could share the love He was already experiencing with Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That love just had to spill out onto another generation.
The same was true for our clan. We have been fortunate in our family to really like one another. And to love one another because God first loved us. (I know this is a blessing beyond words. If you, Dear Reader, have not had that benefit in you family, you could be the one who changes the course of things today. Email me.)
When John Michael was born and gave his first cry, his great-grandpa kicked up his cowboy boots and ran down the hospital corridor to see the boy. And we all followed him. Our family love was so big it had spilled over into another generation, and we could not wait to watch it grow.
That great-grandfather is watching from the great cloud of witnesses in Heaven now, but the spilled over love just keeps growing. And we keep smiling.
I hope you are smiling at someone today, too, Dear Reader. If you aren’t near your own family members or aren’t able to smile at them, please look around. Someone near you proably needs some Love.