Through one of those open windows I caught a glimpse of a little girl running through the yard and also could hear her happy giggles as she ran.
In that moment all I could think was, "man I love her so much." For no other reason that she is my little girl. To see and hear her joyful and happy, carefree and running around in the beautiful day filled my own heart with great joy as well.
Unless you are a parent, I think it is difficult to describe the feeling that came over me in that moment.
I felt it again a few days later as the same little girl was again playing outside with her hair up in 2 perfect pig tails and her big sister was wandering around the yard in her movie star sunglesses, sunhat, fake cell phone talking to herself and pretending to text as she almost walked directly into a large rock.
Their innocence. Their imaginations. Their adorableness. They're my kids.
It occurs to me that this love, the overwhelming, hits you like a wave, impossible to put into words, and even unexplainable at times (because those very same adorable, innocent children can also make you absolutely crazy at times), is the love that God our Father has for us.
We don't earn it. We don't really deserve it.
He just looks upon us and is overcome with his love for us...his children...his creation...his image.
But that is not where love ends. With a warm fuzzy feeling.
More than being a feeling love is a choice.
It is choosing to be loving even when I am annoyed, tired, frustrated, angry...need I go on.
It is choosing to be loving even when I have been hurt.
It is choosing to be loving even when others don't understand my actions as love.
Say what?
Those same sweet adorable, innocent children described above can be naughty at times. Or they have to be told no on occassion because well love.
They don't feel very loved when they are being disciplined. They don't feel very loved when I don't say yes as they point to every shiny item on the shelf as we wander the store. They don't feel very loved when boundaries are put in place. And they like to tell me, "You're mean. Why are you so grumpy all the time?" Did I mention their dramatic skills are on point?
But the reality is that I wouldn't be loving them well if I let them get away with whatever and gave them whatever they wanted.
Love isn't always the soft choice, the easy choice. Love is often realizing that you experience some sort of short term pain in order to achieve something long term like character and maturity. Love is often speaking up and saying the hard words when it would be easier to just look the other way. Love is extending grace and kindness and patience to my kids even when I don't really feel like it and they don't really deserve it.
I am really grateful that God gave us the capacity to feel love. To look at someone and be overwhelmed with how much you care for that individual. To appreciate them. Respect them. Be filled with joy at their joy.
I am less grateful that the feeling sometimes fades leaving us with the responsibility to continue choosing love.
I hope at this point you've realized that this concept applies beyond just the relationship between a parent and a child.
God's word tells us to love others. All others. All the time. (Matthew 22:39)
Those we have warm fuzzy feelings about and those we don't.
Those we agree with and have fun with and those we don't.
Those who look like us and act like us and those who don't.
Those who deserve it and those who don't.
The Bible tells us also that love is patient, love is kind, it does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. It does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (1 Corinthians 13)
When I look around me, I see a world that needs a whole lot more of this kind of love.
Love that stands up against injustice.
Love that forgives as it heals from deep wounds.
Love that repents because it is humble.
Love that responds rather than reacts because it is not easily angered.
Love that pursues truth and makes no room for evil of any kind.
Love that protects life.
Love that trusts; giving others the benefit of the doubt when possible.
Love that gives the world hope.
Love that never gives up.
We will fail. We will fall short. We will not be perfect in loving others.
But the Bible also gives us an example and an expression of perfect love in the form of Jesus. Being in every way God, he became a man, flesh and blood, and humbled himself in sacrifice on a cross, a criminals death, to save us all from an eternity of hell as consequence for our sin. Consequence for our nature that will keep us from loving perfectly all the time. Jesus' love has given us forgiveness, grace, a call to repentance, a path to healing, the gift of eternal life, and ultimately hope...hope that all that is around us right now is not all that there is.
This is Love.
1 John 4:7-12
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love; not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and God raised him from the dead you will be saved. Romans 10:9
It's that simple if you are ready to receive the love that God has for us!
