“Hi ya!” a little voice bursts like a song. Something inside me bursts too, and my voice jumps octaves higher.
“Is that you??”
“Hi ya!” she chirps again.
“Oh!!" I laugh, "Ohh, I miss you.” I mean it. I miss my little niece.
I’ve sent her gifts, mailed her cards, rocked her to sleep, snuggled her in my arms, prayed for her, missed her, and she doesn’t even know who I am or remember me. She’s not aware of my existence or my care for her. She’s too young to realize, but that doesn’t stop me from loving her. It doesn’t stop me from missing her. It doesn’t stop me from being excited to see her.
I don’t need her to remember me, in order for me to love her. I just love her. I do.
Of course I look forward to when she’s older and does remember me and we can do things together. I look forward to when she's old enough to have conversations about the world and the sunshine, and anything that fills her little head. However, I’m not waiting for her to know who I am for me to love her.
Oh! Oh. I pause. Her voice babbles on the end of the phone a thousands miles away while a still, small voice shouts in my ears.
Something has just been realized.
A good hit to the soul has just been dealt.
My failure to remember God's significant presence, his love, doesn’t stop him from loving me, either. He loves no matter what, through everything, he loves. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish, but have everlasting life." John 3:16. He loves despite everything we are, because Jesus paid the price for our sins.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. And even though I don’t understand it, I believe that he delights in us. I believe that he loves when we turn to him, just like how my heart skipped a beat when my little niece called out to me.
"But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. And even though I don’t understand it, I believe that he delights in us. I believe that he loves when we turn to him, just like how my heart skipped a beat when my little niece called out to me.
God is not waiting for me to remember him, in order for him to love me. God does not need me to love him, and yet he loves me anyways, eternally, and unconditionally.
My imperfect love for my one year old niece is weak compared to God’s perfect love for his imperfect, rotten, bruised, weak, needy children.
Another slice of golden truth, God's deep love, refreshes my mind and I ponder the significance, wandering amid caramel paths.
Another slice of golden truth, God's deep love, refreshes my mind and I ponder the significance, wandering amid caramel paths.
We say goodbye’s. The end click on the line summons me to gratitude. I’m thankful for the ache the silence brings. It’s a wonderful, beautiful, undeserved gift to have people you love and miss, and to know that God, constantly, every hour, every day- is the perfect example of love to us.
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