A Little Lesson from Maria

Meng Juan and I spent a lovely afternoon the other day watching "The Sound of Music."  Okay, I didn't just watch it...you can't really, can you?  You must stand up and spin around like Maria on that perfect mountaintop, singing at the top of your lungs.  It does a body good!  And how can a gal just sit stoically watching as the Captain, all choked up, sings "Edelweiss" on stage for the last time?  Don't bother trying.  It's humanly impossible.
 But something's been bugging me ever since.  Here's the deal...

Remember the song Captain Von Trapp sings with Maria when they finally figure out they love each other?  It's called "Something Good."  It's the song my kids get up and make popcorn to.
The words I'm stumbling over go like this:
 "For here you are standing there, loving me.  Whether or not you should.
 So somewhere in my youth or childhood, I must have done something good."

Did you catch it?  Do you see my niggling little problem?  I used to feel this way when it came to my relationship with Jesus!  If good things happened, I must have done something good.  Bad things?  I must have NOT done something good.  My relationship was built on performance and a fickle god.  Would he see that I deserved to have something good happen to me?  Could I hide when I failed so something bad wasn't thrust upon me by this god who says he is love?
 
This fickle, scorekeeping god is NOT the Jesus I know, not the God of the Bible, not the Father who overwhelmingly and extravagantly loves me!  I was reminded of that while watching Maria and the Captain, and I am so thankful.  Thankful that I don't have to perform for His Love.  Thankful that I don't need to play the comparing game.  You know, the one that has no winners.  Sadly, I needed to hear this little message of love from Holy Spirit.  I needed to be reminded because I was falling back into that frame of mind that looks at stuff going on around me and thinks, "Hmm...why is this happening?  Did I do something wrong?  Did I misstep somewhere? "

Haven't I been smothered in Jesus' love enough not to go there?  Yes.
Haven't I been told time and again by a patient, faithful Daddy that no matter what, He loves me?  Yes.
Haven't I "stolen His heart with one glance of my eyes?"  Yep.  (By the way, see Song of Songs 4:9.)
I don't have to strive!  I live out of His Love for me!  He loves me and I can rest in that!

And I haven't even mentioned Christmas...
Emmanuel...."God With Us"  That's it.  That's all I need.  He is with me, for me, and in me.  What could be better?
I will always be thankful for Maria and her Captain.  I will always remember the gentle message sent to me through them as they sang in the gazebo.  I am loved genuinely, uniquely, amazingly, fully, and faithfully by Jesus of Nazareth, God With Me.  I do not and cannot earn this radical love.  I rest in Him because that's all I need to do.  Rest and Receive.  Good gifts for this Christmas, don't you think?