Water is next to impossible to stop. It leaks into cracks, it steals away into soil, it saturates without being detected. Water collects in springs that run deep. Water gives life. So does God’s love.
God’s love can be found in the least lovely of places.
It enters human hearts when it seems like there is no reason to love. God’s love loves without logic. It gives without getting in return. I find it baffling.
Today I saw God’s love in a place I never expected it to be. It seeped in unaware. It goes to places I would never go. It loves people I would never choose to love. It humbles the proudest of hearts. Especially mine. It reminded me of Christmas…
The Christmas story showed us how God’s love came to the last place in the world by the one who didn’t have to come. Why would God do it? Why would he leave heaven for such a dirty, smelly place? I wouldn’t, you wouldn’t?
Think about it. Mary was young, pregnant, an embarrassment to her mother and father. Joseph was blue-collar, a tradesman, forced to walk across the arid hills of Israel to register for taxes. God chose them. I wouldn’t. They were too poor. It was the wrong time in history for God to come. It fails to impress.
Today I was at a funeral. It wasn’t well attended. It was for a small lady with dementia. Who wants to go to that? The church that held her service was small, decorations were simple. Cut out paper ornaments placed on a plastic Christmas tree with no lights.
Where were the suits? The golden casket? Just simple people hugging, crying, and laughing. But there it was. God’s love. I listened to stories of a son who cared for a dying mother for 5 years without fanfare. No awards. Just love. This woman died surrounded by the small family she left behind.
Where were the lines of cars?
I sat in the audience overwhelmed. I couldn’t hold my tears in. I was humbled by humble love. I wasn’t expecting it…it seeped in, it soaked into the cracks of that small family that stayed with a dying aging woman who didn’t even know her own reflection in the mirror.
How many people came to see Jesus when he was born? He wailed for the first time on a dark night. God sends his love in places no one ever would.
God is amazing! I’m amazed at what I saw. I’m embarrassed by my desire for the impressive.
Forgive me, Lord.
