My New Anthem

So I came across an incredible verse in the Bible today, Psalm 33.5 in The Message translation. It reads, "Earth is drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction." Don't you just love that? Earth is drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction. That's just fabulous. I'm adopting that verse as my new mantra.

It's so interesting reading everyone else's blogs and hearing from all my friends who have graduated with me. My friends are scattered across the country, going to grad school, starting their careers, getting married, playing the adult game. I have friends going to law school in Vermont, playing park ranger in Alaska, doing missions in Australia, and selling gum in freaking California. (Not you, Dianne...okay, just kidding! I am talking about you! Ha!) And here I am sitting on my bum all day, playing Legos with the coolest kid in the universe. There are days we don't even get out of our pajamas until well past noon. Our best friends include Big Bird, Elmo, and Ernie, and I've learned all the names of all the characters on Sesame Street, Barney, and Teletubbies. Just today, I caught myself singing the "Journey to Ernie" song right alongside those fuzzy monsters. (If you want the words, just ask. I'm not ashamed!) The most use that has come of my math degree has been balancing the checkbook. When people ask what I'm doing these days, I answer, "I'm just staying at home with Max." Most often I get a ton of praise, parenting being one of the most important roles anyone will ever play. But sometimes, I get those smartasses who get under my skin and into my head, who unthinkingly say, "Oh. That's it?"

And just as I start getting caught up in the lies that my life is not nearly as accomplished as everyone else's around me, or that my math degree is just a waste, that everyone else is doing what they were educated and trained to do, that I do nothing "productive" all day, I read that I am drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction. How friggin' cool is the Bible? The living Word, breathed from God, spoken straight to a heart that needs exactly what it has to offer at any given time?

I am drenched. God is satisfied with me. Not with what I do, because Lord knows I'm a clumsy disgrace to all things holy. Not with what I know, because what I know is just slightly more than nothing. With me.

Earth is drenched in God's affectionate satisfaction.

I love it. I absolutely cannot get over that simple truth. There's no magic involved, no steps to follow, no clean-up required. I am who God intended me to be. A wife. A mother. A homemaker. He is satisfied with me, with my heart, with my being. Whether I am "just a mom" or the most successful, money-making woman out there, I am doing important work. And when I get down with the thought that people are having adventures, God's like, what?! Don't you know, fool? (Okay, so sometimes God sounds like Mr. T to me...) I am having the ultimate adventure. Sharing ice cream with a fourteen-month-old is pretty exciting, especially when he gets brain freeze for the first time, and you end up spending half an hour just laughing at and with each other.

So that's the nugget. OF TROOOOOOF. Hmm. God is drenching us with His affectionate satisfaction. Everywhere you turn, He offers it up. Earth is drenched. That is a beautiful thing.