The Not Fair Day, and How You Are Known

At 9:14 this morning you missed three words on your spelling test, and from there the day was over.

Also, the guitar case pinched your finger. You fell on your head while trying to do a back walkover. The cereal box was empty. You accidently kicked your sister completely off the couch and had to have all couch-sitting privileges removed for the morning. And at least 18 arguments erupted in which you were involved but that were most definitely not your fault at all.

It’s really just not a fair day.

I know you – not completely and not perfectly, but better I think than you know yourself. I know that you light up the room, that you want more than anything in the world to be helpful, that you have the most contagious laugh, and that you feel things more deeply than perhaps people would imagine. I know that it bothers you to death when the picture you drew doesn’t measure up to your expectations, or when someone doesn’t want your help, or when you miss three words on your spelling test.

Being known doesn’t change the not-fairness of this day. But it might just be better.

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.

Though I wish I could tell you differently, not fair days will continue to happen. They’ll just move from seven-year-old concerns to thirty-six-year-old worries. They’ll be full of mistakes of your own making and things that are completely outside of your control. I know because I face them too. And sometimes I understand why things are the way the are, and more often I don’t. It feels like I’m looking through a foggy window. One day all of the questions will be answered, and loose ends will be tied up and the tapestry will be complete. One day it will all make glorious sense.

But today.

On this very not fair day, while the glass is still foggy and the mirror is still dim, we are fully known.

You in your meltdown and I in my inner turmoil are fully known…accurately, intimately, lovingly known.

Formed by the Creator

Recognized by the Shepherd

Acknowledged by the King

Understood by the Savior

And though we may not have answers or closure or understanding yet, we can be assured that there is One who sees, who cares, who knows.

When I tell you that I love you, you always tell me that you love me more, and I always say that’s not possible because I’m so much bigger than you. Maybe, even and especially on the not fair days, we can both learn to rest in the love that is bigger than us all.