Extravagant Love

I am not a huge fan of fishing.  I'll just put that out there right now.  I think it would be way more appealing if I wasn't frantically trying to run back and forth between 5 kids with frequent disasters and a baby in tow, constantly fearing someone will hook themselves or a sibling or fall into the water!  So yes, maybe someday I will enjoy this activity a little more that I do currently.  But my kids LOVE to fish.  All of them love it and want to fish every day that we have nice weather.  And so, because they love it, I'm trying to love it too.  This is my new motto...love what they love...

I am quickly realizing that there are few activities that appeal equally to kids ranging from infant to teen.  And I am also realizing that anytime I find one of these activities, I need to hold tightly to it, for soon enough they will move on to other interests I'm sure.

So for right now, it is fishing.  And the more time we spend together fishing, the more we build relationships with each other and make memories together.  Doing things that I love are far less important right now than doing things that they love...because I love them.

I was reflecting on one of our chaotic fishing trips the other day, how much love God lavishes on us...on me.  How He loves me unconditionally.  How He wants to spend time with me, in whatever capacity I make time for Him.  In a moment of frustration the other day after taking the kids fishing for a couple hours, I lamented their lack of interest in helping clean up all the gear when we got home.  I wanted them to appreciate the sacrifices I had made for them and to show appreciation by helping me to clean up the mess without being asked.  I wanted them to do something in response to all that I had done for them.  God stopped me right in my tracks...not to say they shouldn't clean up, but to remind me of the many things He does for me, the many times He helps me, answers prayers, provides comfort and peace and wisdom and love...and I all too often brush Him off and look the other way without acknowledging any of it.  He humbles me, oh so gently, to help me see, yet again, the extravagance of His love...what it really looks like to be loved unconditionally.  

He is willing to meet me right where I am, in the messiest of places.  The holy, omnipotent Creator of the universe...

I love the image portrayed by Psalm 116:2

Because he bends down to listen, I will pray as long as I have breath!

He bends down to listen to my bumbling, inadequate prayers, uttered between all of the "important" tasks I'm trying to get done throughout my day.  I squeeze Him in where I'm able, but there He is...hanging on to my every word, bending down so He doesn't miss anything.  Loving me extravagantly... 

The next time I am out fishing with all the kids, I'll pause to acknowledge the One who goes with me every day, walking through my chaotic world ever so patiently, loving me extravagantly every step of the way... 

A Stunning Anthem

Make my life a stunning anthem, God...

At the park last week, the older kids were all fishing while Eva, Tessa, and I were playing on the playground nearby.  Suddenly Eva darted away to a stand of tall trees and I could see her feverishly picking the little weed flowers that were growing there in masses.  She brought me a tiny bouquet of her prized flowers, delicately beautiful in their own way.

Again today, as we visited another park, she and I stopped to marvel at a hillside, bathed in purple from thousands of tiny purple flowers growing in the grass.  To me, the presence of so much color and beauty and life is a screaming testament to the love of our Creator, Who made even the grasses of the field to bring forth such beauty in unexpected places.  He put that much care even into the weeds...

Why does God make the effort to communicate love to us in so many ways?  A beautiful sunrise, the smell of rain on parched ground, a warm breeze on the face, puffy white clouds in brilliant blue skies, sweet birdsong...and the list goes on and on.  Isn't it that He wants us to then communicate that same love to others?  Those flowers, on their own, would easily be lost in a large space.  But when clustered in larger groups, their tiny blooms were very noticeable.  God's acts of love abound to us in Creation, over and over and over again.  And He didn't stop there.  He sacrificed everything for us, even His very life.  If more people were unified in helping others, in showing beauty to others through acts of kindness and care, in just loving people with this self-sacrificing kind of love, imagine what that would look like....imagine...

 

This week I read a passage in Romans that really gripped my heart:

Romans 15:1-6 (The Message)  Those of us who are strong and able in the faith need to step in and lend a hand to those who falter, and not just do what is most convenient for us. Strength is for service, not status. Each one of us needs to look after the good of the people around us, asking ourselves, “How can I help?”

That’s exactly what Jesus did. He didn’t make it easy for himself by avoiding people’s troubles, but waded right in and helped out. “I took on the troubles of the troubled,” is the way Scripture puts it. Even if it was written in Scripture long ago, you can be sure it’s written for us. God wants the combination of his steady, constant calling and warm, personal counsel in Scripture to come to characterize us, keeping us alert for whatever he will do next. May our dependably steady and warmly personal God develop maturity in you so that you get along with each other as well as Jesus gets along with us all. Then we’ll be a choir—not our voices only, but our very lives singing in harmony in a stunning anthem to the God and Father of our Master Jesus!

And so I ask myself, how can I, today, communicate this kind of love, this kind of hope I have, to others, in a meaningful and real way.  How can I allow Him to transform my self-serving attitude, to be more concerned about others? God doesn't act alone, for whatever reason I am not sure.  He often chooses to work through inadequate, stumbling people like you and I.  So keep us alert, God.  Keep our eyes open for whatever work it is You have for us to do.  This kind of awareness and willingness to serve will be a truly spectacular display of beauty, a stunning anthem to a hurting world.