Matthew 2:20 Well, isn't that special!

"Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the

Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head."

"I not like you, Emmy."

(just spoken by Sawyer when I told him, for the eleven-hundredth time, 

he couldn't put his Thomas T-shirt on yet because t's too cold.)

Hmmmm.

Looks like Sawyer and I have passed the honeymoon period 

of the occasional fun-filled overnight

and journeyed right into the stark reality of living together for four days now.

It's easy to be "special" for a short amount of time; anything longer 

reveals the challenge of staying special.

Here's what The Way to Love has to say about this:

Think of someone whose love you desire. 

Do you want to be important to this person, 

to be especial and make a difference to his/her life?

If you do, open your eyes and see that you are foolishly 

inviting others to reserve you for themselves, 

to restrict your freedom for their benefit, 

to control your behavior, your growth and development 

so that it will suit their interest. 

It is as if the other person said to you,

'If you want to be especial to me then you must meet my conditions. 

Because the moment you cease to live up to my expectations 

you will cease to be especial.

You wanted to be especial to some, didn't you?

So you must pay a price in lost freedom.

You must dance to the other person's tune just as you demand 

that other persons dance to yours if they want to be especial to you.

To ask to be especial to someone means essentially to be bound 

to the task of making yourself pleasing to this person. 

And therefore to lose your freedom. 

Take all the time you need to realize this.

Love can only exist in freedom. 

The true lover seeks the good of his beloved 

which requires especially the liberation of the beloved from the lover.

And I'm getting to learn this (hands-on) from a child who, 
at this stage of the game, has no clue what he really wants, 
he just knows he wants it! And if he doesn't get it, he doesn't like me, 
I'm not special to him anymore.

Aha!

I think this works with big folks too!

(PS: I'm not aware that Jesus ever asked to be special.)