A Sloppy Wet Kiss

I think perhaps I'm in the minority.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to play piano for the worship team at church. I always enjoy doing this; it's sort of a creative outlet for me to be able to let my fingers dance on the keys in harmonious collusion with the other instrumentalists on the team. Slow. Fast. Soft. Loud. Getting Louder. (Or the equivalent Italian terms which are far too difficult for me to spell.)

One of the songs we led yesterday was a favorite of mine. It was called "How He Loves," and one of the lines in the song is "Heaven meets earth like a sloppy wet kiss, and my heart turns violently inside of my chest."

Beyond the rest of the lines in the song, which are excellent and meet some deep point in my soul as I belt out the words, this line in particular resonates with me. I've actually heard lots of people talk about how that line makes them cringe, and I suppose there are opinions, and then there are opinions.

When I hear that line, I see my two-year-old daughter toddling up to the couch where I sit, working. She climbs up, her eyes wide and her voice insistent. She wants attention, and reluctantly, I put aside my agenda for a moment and curl an arm around her. She raises one pudgy, dimpled hand and pats my cheek. "Mommy," she says in her clear, indistinct toddler voice. "Wuv, Mommy."

I smile and say, "I love you, too, Darlin'." She pushes herself closer, her knee digging painfully into my thigh. And she kisses me on the cheek.

It's wet. There's some saliva involved. It's no chaste peck, dry and barren. This is a kiss filled to the brim with love, and it spills over, leaving a large, glistening circle of drool on my cheek. It's sloppy.

To me, that is love in its truest form - pure, innocent, completely without expectations. She doesn't require me to kiss her back (though of course I do; how can I help it?). She doesn't ask me to give her food, clothing, shelter, a paycheck, and then she'll kiss me. Then she'll show me her love.

She loves me simply because she does.

God loves me simply because He does. I could never in a million years earn that kind of love, but God gives it without a price, without me even asking for it.

Just like a sloppy, slippery, saliva-filled, juicy, wet, thoroughly love-filled kiss.