On this day, thirty-one years ago, my friend had a baby.

She was quite young, and the pregnancy unplanned, and the future of the child – a boy – was uncertain in her care. She loved him in all his sweet and innocent goodness, this flesh of her flesh, but she knew that there were other parents, with longing hearts and empty arms, who could provide the life she dreamed of for him…the kind he deserved. So, she placed him in their care, trusting them with his future, and while her heart ached, she knew her sacrifice was right and good.

Every day since, he’s been right there in her heart and mind, growing up with the seasons, big and strong. A strapping boy with sandy hair? brown? and a heart for others, soft and true (if he’s anything at all like his mother). But even in all this time, she’s never doubted that she did the right thing. She loved him enough to make a sacrifice for his greater good.

There was another son sacrificed. A heavenly Father and an earthly mother looked on as their son was given as a sacrifice for the world.

For you and me.

For our greater good.

Each day before and every day since, we’ve been right there in God’s mind and heart, growing with the seasons, and, as He considers our hearts, helping us keep them soft and true, He’s never doubted that His sacrifice was the right thing.

Just like my friend.

Happy birthday, JRM. You have a momma who understands that some gifts are given until they hurt. They are sacrificial acts from the depths of the heart, and the very definition of real love.

Yes, real, true love.

“But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” Romans 5:8 ESV

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.” John 3:16 MSG

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:13 ESV

“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:11 ESV