Born Again

I cry over many things but a pile of laundry? Yep, this one recently did me in. Tractors, police cars, and Paw Patrol reminded me that those who were wrapped in and tucked in are back home and I’m here, left to neatly fold and put away the precious memories until next time.

Now, I know that home is where they are supposed to be and that I can’t be with them in every part of their lives, but there’s no doubt that they’re woven into every part of mine! With the arrival of each grandson, I was born into a new life too! First, I entered MiMi life and then emerged into MiMi of two life, and soon with the birth of a new little one, I will begin anew as MiMi x 3!

Becoming a grandparent is transforming! Things I once deemed important now hold little value. I’ve developed a new level of commitment as I attempt to keep those mistakes made with my own children from being made with theirs. From the moment I encountered each perfect little person, I was forever changed. And now, a love like I’ve never experienced before fills a hole in my heart that I never even knew I had. It feels as if I’ve been born again!

There are many things in life that like grandparenthood, offer us a new beginning: a move, a job, a relationship, parenthood, even a world-wide pandemic. BUT, there’s none more important and life changing as new life in Christ!

“This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him.”
2 Corinthians 5:17-18 (NLT)

Becoming part of the family of God offers the greatest transformation! When we encounter Jesus, the perfect sacrifice, we are forever changed: our sins are forgiven, we are empowered with the Holy Spirit, and we receive eternal life! And like my experience with becoming a MiMi, becoming a Christian causes us to look even more deeply at what we’ve made important in our lives and gives us a new desire to reprioritize them and to move forward leaving the mistakes of our past behind. We are, without a doubt, TRULY born again!

“All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is by his great mercy that we have been born again because God raised Jesus Christ from the dead. Now we live with great expectation,”
1 Peter 1:3 (NLT)

“For you have been born again, but not to a life that will quickly end. Your new life will last forever because it comes from the eternal, living word of God.” 1 Peter 1:23 (NLT)

The MiMi love that fills my heart is overwhelming; but God’s love for us?

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)

God’s love is overwhelming too, but it’s also overflowing: streaming from the holes in Jesus’s hands to filling every part of us: heart, mind, and soul! Have you accepted the gift of being born again in Jesus? I pray you have! If you haven’t, this is a perfect time to begin anew!

“And now what are you waiting for? Get up, be baptized and wash your sins away, calling on his name.”  Acts 22:16 (NIV)

 Writing today to the prompt “Born” with the other gifted writers at http://www.fiveminutefriday.com I am grateful for your presence here. I hope this finds you safe and well. I pray that we will all soon be living lives on the other side of the uncertainty of these past months!  God bless!