Lord, how many times have I taken Your Word and made it law, when You gave it in love? How often do You show me what's available, just because You love me, and I assume that You've imposed on me another standard by which I am supposed to live? How often have I taken the "Creator's Manual" that shows me how to be happy and live successfully and used it as though You intended it to be a ring in my snout? What's wrong with me?

Is it a result of Adam's sin that men are drawn to restriction rather than living securely in freedom? Is it a part of the curse that I should not know instantly that my Creator desires only happiness for His Beloved? Or, is it that I really don't understand Your Love?

Lord, teach me more about loving the way You love. Teach me not to make judgments on others' decisions or actions nor to judge myself because not even You, who has the right, will judge me . . . ever. Help me learn that the things You ask of me are only for the purpose of giving me the very best; that You are not at all interested in obedience for obedience sake. Knowing this causes me to spontaneously respond to you. I don't have to, I get to!

What unbelievable joy it is when I realize that Your love is not dependent on my performance. That You expect far less from me than I expect from myself. That you delight in me when I am content to be what You created me to be.

Knowing this about You frees me to be authentic, to be transparent, to be vulnerable, to be teachable, to be happy. Only then is seen the unmistakable family resemblance between a very unique God and his very unique child.