It started out looking like an ordinary chair. Until I sat in it. It held me softly, with support in just the right places. The space to lean back, curl up, all perfect. I started to settle in.

Then I began to worry. Maybe I wasn’t supposed to get too comfortable.  I waited nervously for someone to come and tell me to move along. Finally I stopped waiting for someone to tell me I couldn’t sit there and got up anyway.

But something drew me back. I sat again, leaned back, explored and discovered another feature that seemed made for me. The longing to stay grew.

I spent the whole day in that spot, sitting, starting to settle in, beginning to worry, moving on, being drawn back. Each time staying a little longer. Each time discovering another of its wonders.

Finally it hit me. The space wasn’t created for me. I was created for it. I suit it. This unique spot in God’s heart – no one else can fill it. No one else fits it.

Just think. Who notices the same things you do? Speaks the same? Thinks the same? Loves the same? Or consider your friends. You know one will intuitively grasp what you’re trying to say. Another you call if you need help putting together a bookshelf.

Can the One who is Himself relationship delight any less in the uniqueness of His children?

He loves to see you dance with color when you quilt. Or thrill to the touch of little arms around your neck. Or get excited about the differential stability of 2′F-ANA•RNA and ANA•RNA hybrid duplexes. You’re exploring the bit of God’s heart for which you were created. Your heart is touching his, sharing in his delighted proclamation over each detail of his creation, ‘It is good.’

Let your heart wake to the wonder of it. If you don’t explore the bit of God’s heart for which you have been created, it will remain unexplored. No one else can be in that place in the same way you can. The Creator of the universe is opening this bit of his heart – just for you!

So settle in. Lean in. Notice the ways He loves you, the places He whispers to you. Love him back as only you can. Smile with the laughing children and see God smiling too. Parse the verbs. Slow dance to the lament. Examine the snowflake on your mitten. Look up and see the twinkle in His eyes as you explore this corner of His heart into which no one else has ever been invited.

It’s yours. Forever.

Photo: Heart in the clouds as I was writing this post