Lately, I’ve been pulling my darling nephew onto my lap and snuggling him.
“Guess what,” I say.
“I love you,” he responds, because that is how this game goes.
“How much do I love you?”
“A dillion.” This is, apparently, an enormous number. It’s bigger than a trillion. A dillion squared is a sillion. That’s all we know.
“Will I love you forever?”
“Yes.” He’s smiling.
“No matter what?”
“Yes.”
“What if you do something really bad? What if you kick Cecilia hard? Will I still love you then?”
The first time I asked a question like this, he wasn’t quite sure. He just looked distressed. But now he knows. “Yes.”
“What if you’re really mad at me and you hate me? Will I still love you?”
“Yes.”
“What if you hate Jesus and you never go to church?”
“Yes.”
It goes on with different questions each time. He smiles the whole time, giggles sometimes–not because anything’s funny, just because he’s happy. I tell him over and over that I love him and he knows it but he still needs to hear it.
If you need to hear it tonight, let me tell you. God loves you. Forever and for always, to the moon and back. He loves you more than you could ever imagine and he will never stop loving you. Not if you are cruel to the people who love you, not if you reject him and hate him and nail him to the cross over and over. He will still love you. No matter what.
And since you maybe don’t hear him when he sings it in symphonies and paints it in wildflowers and suspends it in a monstrance, I’ll say it again.
Whatever you’ve done, wherever you’ve been, whoever you are, whatever the cost. Deeply, madly, desperately he loves you.
Hallelujah.
so, so true! and always so good to be reminded. thank you for sharing!
Just what I needed! Thank you 🙂
Thank you! I needed to hear that!
Thank you! I’ll be rereading that a lot 🙂 Hallelujah. Love it!
I guess when I kept telling you kids that I loved you, so often that it bored you, I was really telling you that God loved you. Because who could possibly have taught me to love but the One Who is Love?
I love you a dillion sillion, honey. {{{{{Meg}}}}}
I have read this post several times and it never loses it’s effect, I get goosebumps, I feel warm, so blessed and deeply and utterly moved. Thank you for the work that you do, and with such dedication! He knows who He calls and why, you deliver His messages so beautifully. God bless you and have a safe trip to Hawaii!
Oh, praise God–thank you!