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Dear Calvin,
Happy birthday to you! You are 6! Wow!
- You are a bundle of joy and creative ideas! Just about anytime day or night, you are bubbling over with inquisitive, imaginative, energetic fun.
- You love examining and investigating books with lots of details and design. You also have authored a few of your own books (latest: My Things, complete with your own zoo, bike, and flying car).
- You are also blossoming into quite an artist. You have wonderful vision for making raw materials into something cool, such as turning a cardboard box into a volcano and village, a mitten into a felt-decorated monster, and a laundry basket into a ship. You enjoy painting, sculpting, and drawing. It's so fun to see your creations! It's the image of God on display.
- You are (normally) a very patient and accommodating big brother to Jemima. You will play as her pet, help build her a fort behind her bed, and give her space to look at books alongside you. I love to see you both enjoying each other so much!
- You did great with kindergarten this year, gained good reading skills, whipped through your math book (and got a start on next year's), and prepared a very interesting science presentation on Saturn (because your big brothers were), even though the rest of your class wasn't actually tackling that. It's so great to see your good mind at work, learning and growing!
- You are doing a great job learning 2 Thessalonians with the rest of the fam (a summer project)! I love it when you get me back on track if I miss a phrase here or there...
- You are getting stronger and more capable in so many ways. You're a great bike rider and have biked along while I've run several times this summer, which is so cool! You don't complain about hills or even getting soaked in the rain! I love sharing those adventures with you, and I appreciate how it highlights not only your physical growth but also your growing maturity, flexibility, and perseverance.
- You have a great sense of humor and are very quick to pick up a pun or joke or clever idea. I pray that your joyful spirit will always be a refreshment to others as you are steadily refreshed and encouraged in the Lord. It is a joy to be your mom!
The new Bible study that we're walking through this summer focuses on the hope of heaven, and our first lesson asked the question, Will heaven be your home? We live in a culture that doesn't like to think about death, or that flippantly assumes things will turn out fine as long as we aren't as bad as the really bad people, but that is a pretty foolish and short-sighted way to live.
Today we walked thoughtfully through John 3:14-18:
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.
We have a really big problem: we are sick with sin, and as Romans 6:23 reminds us, sin earns death. But the solution is not some elaborate list of requirements we need to do to impress God. Actually, quite the contrary.
God seeks those who will humbly recognize that they cannot do anything to solve the problem of their own sin--and rather who will believe in the Son of God, who took our place, bearing our punishment so that we could be saved. Three times in this passage it says "whoever believes in him"... the door is wide open! How I pray that you will see and keep seeing the greatness of Christ, believe and keep believing in His all-sufficient redemption, love and keep loving Him for His immense grace and wonderful heart.
I'm thankful that you hear and understand these truths quite well, and I pray the Lord will make them the rock-solid foundation of your whole life. There is nothing better!
I love you so!
Mom
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