... I Love You Too Daddy!

My youngest child, our daughter Yumi Joyce which means to bear the fruit of joy, often takes longer to respond or do things.  Today, I grabbed her and gave her a hug and like I often do I told her "I love you..."  You have to hear it to understand, but in that "I love you..." there is an understanding that she will reply.  I had to tell her not once, not twice, and not three times, but four times before she grinned sheepishly and said "I love you too daddy!"

I was listening to a Zig Ziglar CD I got from having attended the Get Motivated seminar at the Toyota center several weeks ago here in Houston.  Actually, I received the CD from a friend who had grabbed several when we were there together.  In the CD, Zig made a point that of all the criminals in prisons a very very very small amount are Jewish.  He then explained that of the 95% of criminals which are men 99% of them hate their father.  And, he noted that the difference is that most Jewish fathers hold their sons and say "I bless you, I love you, you are important to me" throughout their lifetime.  He drew the correlation between that and the low rate of Jewish men being incarcerated.  Come to think of it, every Jewish man I know loves his father.

Now, imagine how many times during the day God told you "I Love you..." whether you realized it or not at first.  You have to know that He is saying that over every living soul on the planet today.  He is however speaking that over you right now Champion.  God is saying, "I love you..." and waiting for you to reciprocate.  Are you like my daughter and waiting for God to say it four times before you sheepishly say "...I love you too daddy!"?

God doesn't need our love, but He does want to hear us saying that we love Him.  Gratitude is a very essential part of a successful person's life.  Start practicing gratitude with your heavenly Father right now.  List out at least four or five things that God has done most recently to say "I love you Son, I love you Daughter" and then spend some time thanking him today.  No, right now.

Be blessed and have a blessed weekend,

Eric Standlee