God loves us as his precious children

Every year my mom has her side of the family over after Christmas, time together that is always precious to me because it's one of the only times we get to see each other during the year. Most of my cousins have children now, so this year there were 16 children under the age of 10 at our house. The children made our time together a lively adventure.

It was loud. At one point while in the basement, all I could hear were thumping noises coming from above, what I could only imagine were small children hitting or jumping or falling on the floor in some form or fashion.

It was crazy. Piggy back rides, sugar and tons of other children to run around with until you're sweaty. I'm nearly certain this is almost every child's dream.

It was messy. Food to spill, new toys to play with, and snot in noses make a great combination.

But most of all, it was delightful.

The children's delight in life was contagious, spilling over into my heart when one of them stopped running for a second to hug me. Or when a tutu-clad girl showed me how to bake pretend chocolate chip cookies. Or when one of the girls said she was "hanging out with the big girls" and poured herself into me by asking many questions about my life, and if she could see my pictures from college.

The delight of these young people, their love and how they looked to me made me willing to walk upstairs to get ketchup for celery, to pretend silly things over and over again, and to be willing to get my new shirt puked on while holding a baby. Things that might be considered inconveniences became joy in the service of these amazing creations of God.

One of the mysteries about children is how they are so perfect in all of their imperfections. These children didn't have to do anything to earn my love. I loved them the second they walked in the door, and this love tugged at my heart even more as the night went on and I witnessed all of their crazy quirks and messiness and beauty. I even delighted in cleaning up their mess because of all the joy they brought me.

This is how God sees and loves us. We are his children, and we delight him. In all of our ketchup-requesting, puking-on-him ways, in all of our messiness and sin, through our quirks and imperfections, there is nothing we do that can separate us from his love. Nothing that can stop him from seeing us as his perfect creations. He says, "The Lord will take delight in you, and in his love he will give you new life. He will sing and be joyful over you, as joyful as people at a festival." (Zephaniah 3:17, TEV)

I pray your 2013 is full of delight and that God reveals to you all the ways you delight his heart.

Mia Pohlman is a Perryville, Mo., native studying at Truman State University. She loves performing, God and the color purple -- not necessarily in that order.