Two Sides: How He Loves Us

6/16/10

How He Loves Us

"Jesus Replied, You Must Love The Lord Your God With All Your Heart, All Your Soul, And All You Mind. This Is The First And Greatest Commandment."

Matthew 22:37-38

Last night was my turn to feed the homeless, as always I got there early so I could spend some quiet time in the Church, at the Altar.

Last night I was thankful in my prayers as I knelt in the silence.

Thankful for the words He places on my heart, thankful for how far I have come in the past year, thankful for all the new people in my life as well as the ones who have stuck around during the tumultuous 16 months that have past.

I tried not to hurry my prayer, knowing full well I needed to get ready in the kitchen and it seemed we would be short-handed by 2 people.

I finished thanking Him and as I rose, I felt like I was forgetting something.

I couldn't quite place my finger on it so I carried on into the kitchen.

It was busy last night which always saddens me....

No one in my opinion should ever be homeless and have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

Most of them are grateful, some don't speak, some are bossy, some are downright mean and some are picky...

They are all His children though so I do what He has called me to do.

As I was about done serving, getting ready to move on to clean-up, it hit me...

I never told Him, "I love you".

I assume He knows I love Him, however shouldn't it be stated to Him?

So I pondered this question with a dear friend ~ Should I tell Him that I love Him?

His reply to me?

The first commandment you see at the top of this post.

You must love Him.

Period.

Sure there are nine other commandments, this one however is the most important.

In my heart, I love Him more then every breath I take, more then every beat of my heart, yet I still didn't know if I should say it.

So last night in my prayers, I ended it by saying I love you.

Complete and pure peace settled upon me.

I can look around and see He loves me...

I am privileged to witness, almost each and every single day, beautiful sunrises and sunsets...

The green of the grass and the beauty of a blue sky filled with white puffy clouds...

The coolness of a breeze blowing across my face on a hot summer day...

The scent of fresh flowers, the calmness of a body of water...

Leaves changing colors, the sand under my feet on the beach...

A laugh in the next room from my little one, knowing that he is healing slowly but surely...

An unexpected call from my oldest son, a letter in the mail from an old friend at just the right time...

An email with a daily Bible verse, walking over, flipping my calender to reveal today, with the same Bible verse printed upon it.

Day after day, minute after minute, He reveals His love to me.

I am not perfect and there are days I don't look for it...

There are days when "life" just takes over and I allow the darker side of my soul to be present...

I don't like those days and if I can catch them early, I will do whatever I can to push them aside, and still seek joy in whatever it is that I am doing.

I don't always succeed, and those are the days He tries even harder to show me He is right there.

The cardinal out back will come on those days, it never fails to make me pause and then smile.

"He loves you" will be sent to me over IM out of the blue, again I will pause and smile.

I won't have a single red light on the way home, traffic will be light and there won't be any accidents along the way...

The magic housekeeping fairy will have landed in my dwelling as I worked and would have taken care of all the chores, all the laundry, and dinner would be on the table as soon as I entered the door.

Of course life is easier this way, however we all know it just doesn't work out that way.

The thing we fail to realize, fail to remember, and most of us fail to think about is, He never promised it would be easy, only that it would be worth it.

That's right, life isn't promised to be easy...

Where is the fun in that?

No matter how hard your life is, it will be worth it in the end.

When all is said and done, you are standing face to face with your Maker, then and only then will it all be worth it.

No matter which way you go, I hope it will be worth it to you based on the decisions you have made in this life.

He loves me more then anyone on the face of this Earth could ever possibly fathom...

No other reason then just because I am me.

He loves me enough to let me be me, yet loves me too much to leave me this way.

He takes the time each and every second of the day to show me how much I mean to Him, show me how much He cares, and show me how much He loves me...

The very least I could do is say "I Love You".