WHEN our son was a year old we took him to a cookout and costume contest at our church. We worked for a week on his chicken costume. He wore a hat that wrapped around his head with feathers and a beak; a white shirt and leggings; and bright-yellow, felt "chicken feet" taped to his shoes. Of course, he was adorable.

At the cookout, the children in their costumes were called to go up front. We led our boy to where he would stand for the judging. There he stood, so tiny in his little outfit, with no idea what was going on. A boy and a girl, friends who came dressed as a bride and groom, won.

As I watched our son standing there, I realized that we looked at our boy in a way that the judges could not. We are his parents. As his parents, we saw beyond the costume to the priceless little things about him that make him so special to us. We looked at him with eyes of love.

Even though there is no love on earth like parents' love for their child, God's unconditional love for each of us is far greater. God sees all of our potential, sweetness, unique qualities, failures, and flaws and loves us because of and in spite of them.

Chris Ruleman (Tennessee, U.S.A.)

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