Our sweet 9-year old son, Tanner Gracen, has an incredible knack for verbalizing his heart, the truth, and what he has experienced. As a part of our visa process to obtain entry into the United Kingdom we had to go to Kansas City to have our biometric data scanned into a government database. This entailed scanning our fingerprints and having a digital picture taken.
We made the most out of the four-hour drive by visiting with a high school friend of mine, James Cooper, and his wife and two kids, Paige, Huge and Luke. Paige treated the kids and Tara to dinner at the T-Rex Cafe and we had a great evening of visiting until the wee hours of the morning.
Sunrise came too early but we managed to get ourselves together and headed out for our next adventure. Tanner wanted to use money he had earned taking care of our neighbor’s dog at the Build-A-Bear Workshop. We arrived around noon and about an hour and a half later we left with “Scotch,” Tanner’s newly created stuffed puppy. 
During the decisionmaking process Tara showed Tanner a doctor’s outfit (scrubs) that he could choose to dress Scotch in. She suggested that perhaps all of Tanner’s animals could use a doctor friend. (We all know how nice it is to have a doctor for a friend – Thank you James and Jim!)
Tanner responded immediately with this beautiful truth:
Mom, the animals don’t get sick unless you don’t love them.
Of course! Truth from the lips of our 9-year old. When we know that we are loved, we have found the secret! We can live contentedly and abundantly, full of love and free of the sin of idolatry and selfishness. We need not steal, fear, live selfishly, or worry. We live in the reality that the King of all kings, our creator and God, has everything in His capable and good hands. This is much different than The Secret that has been discussed on shows like Oprah and Ellen. 
Paul wrote to us in his letter to the Philippians:
Not that I speak from want, for I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am. I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.
The secret, the only real secret, is Jesus Christ. And Jesus Christ is love personified. He gave up everything to save us. Every ounce of His being was given away selflessly. On the cross He made the sacrifice of love and He proclaimed the truth, “It is finished.”
That’s the secret. Love. True love. And it comes from Jesus alone. When we place our faith in Him we are given the ability to love – really love – and to live – abundantly and freely.
