God's love for us

Today's sermon was about God's love, but it was the comments Aaron Baker made before the sermon that triggered my thoughts for this blog. Aaron told us that God enjoyed watching us enjoy life. The only thing I can relate that to is how much fun it is for me to see my kids enjoying themselves.
All three of my children were active in school activities, so active that we were constantly on the go, but I loved every minute of it.
Jason had three loves in high school: He loved basketball, cuttting, and ag. All you had to do was spend time watching him participating in any of these activities, and his enthusiasm was contagious. My memories of watching him compete in cutting horse competitions are some of the best. Jason was one with the animal-which is what you want to be-and put his all into the two and a half minute ride. His focus was unmistakable. The days were long, and I had two younger kids, but when he was competing for High School Rodeo, I would go and sit all day to watch him for maybe ten minutes total. Of course, this led him into his career. He was humble when he showed as a kid and as an adult. He trained one horse who went on to win two World Championships, but I didn't know it until I received a sympathy card from the horse's owners. They told me that they gave credit to Jason for their horse's success. He love basketball and some of my best recent memories were from my sister Phyllis's house when Jason, Jeff, Marty, Monty, Carson, and Evan would get a game going and knock one another around. I was always afraid one of the older guys would get hurt because they held nothing back. As for his ag experiences, Jason love his ag chapter, and made friends from all over the state through that organization. When he went to Connors, he called me after the first week and said, "Mom, I love it here; everyone here is just like me." I didn't know if that was good or not, but I do know that he made some life-long friendships there.
Allison also had three passions. She loved watching and playing sports, cheerleading, and just hanging out with her friends and cousins. I was blessed to get to observe her in all three situations because I taught at the same high school. I always felt bad for Tony because he didn't get to see our cheerful daughter interract with her classmates. She laughed (probably too much) at the antics of her friends and was a true friend to all kinds of people. She loved and still loves to watch sports. She never missed a game from her freshman to senior year. She even went when she had mono and when she had just had her wisdom teeth cut out. Puffy cheeks and all. The most fun thing to watch her do was cheer. She was a natural--since she went to her first cheerleading camp at age three--she didn't really have a choice. The best thing for me to watch was the way she worked so hard to improve. She was a very strong base and was dedicated to prefecting stunts, her jumps started out as average, but by the time she was a senior, she had the prettiest toe touch of all the girls. She truly enjoyed herself.
Carson's passions were just as varied. He loved sports, especially football and baseball, and music, and he was extremely dedicated to being better at all three. I loved watching every football game he played, but my favorites were the ones when he obviously had to get out of his comfort zone to play above his ability. When he was a sophomore, he had to play linebacker against Ada, and he did a wonderful job. We won that game, and the joy that boy exhibited was so much fun to watch. Carson has always been reserved, quiet, so seeing him celebrate after a game was a joy for me.
He was a natural leader and received the leadership award from both the baseball and football coaches when he was a senior. They both told me stories of Carson giving fire-up speeches in the locker room or dugout.
Although I loved watching him play sports, my most joyous moments was hearing him sing and play the guitar. I didn't realize how much I missed it until recently he played for a friend's wedding, and I heard him again. He has such a talent.
Now I say all of that to connect back to my opening comment. If my children can give me joy when I watch them do the things they love, don't you think it brings God joy to watch us do the things we love? I don't think he enjoys us going to church any more than he enjoys watching us do the other things that honor Him with our lives. Jimmy says often, "Do whatever you do as unto the Lord." I am going to try to remember that when I'm gardening, reading, cooking, studying, making a portfolio, shopping. If I am enjoying myself, God is glorified.