I was to give a short devotional talk at our Special Events
morning - a love themed Non-Birthday party - and as I was considering what to
say the Lord dropped the above visual into my mind.
February is the 'love' month -- and we are all familiar with the saying "Love makes the world go round" and we smile. But it is literally true !
Our God IS love, and in His love He spun the earth on its axis when He created our universe.
When my granddaughter was four years old, she was one of the youngest in her kindergarten class. Even at that young age , friends were her goal .. the more the merrier !
There was a girl named Sherry in her class and this girl for some reason rejected my granddaughter from her 'inner circle'. It hurt my granddaughter's feelings but she was determined to win this girl over. Every time I saw her she would tell me about Sherry and how she needed to be her friend, but Sherry would not play with her.
She would phone me and say , "Nanna, we have to pray for Sherry..."
She would spend time and care to draw her a special picture. Or she would offer Sherry the treat in her lunch.... She even asked her Mom if she could buy Sherry a gift and in the store she ever so carefully examined everything to find just the right thing -- but over and over her gestures were turned away.. She tried everything her little self could think of and she became more and more troubled and burdened for this girl .
One day I was at her house and she again talked about Sherry and then asked ... "What is that called when someone, someone ... is ... "and she fumbled for the right word. I tried to help... " when someone is sad? depressed? upset?" "no ... no ... when someone has a broken .. "
"Oh .. "I said , "you mean a broken spirit?" I knew she was too young to know what that was, but she grabbed onto it and declared .. "Yes, that is what it is, Sherry has a broken spirit! We have to pray for her broken spirit , Nanna."
She never gave up but at the end of the school year, nothing had changed. My grandmother heart ached for my little granddaughter because I saw how much pain it caused her to not be able to win this girl for her friend.
My granddaughter is now half-way through a 5 year program to become a Music Therapist. She will be reaching out to the disabled, the handicapped , the challenged and yes, those who have broken spirits.
I have often thought about how deeply my granddaughter felt the pain caused by the rejection of her offers of friendship and I can not help but think it is a picture of how God feels when He is pushed aside by His children.
We easily repeat John 3:16 and think about God seeking to save the lost ... and of course He does - He does not want anyone to perish. But , I think His deepest pain is when it is His own children that He cannot reach.
God longs for His children to spend time with Him... but too often we are too busy.
We live in a hectic, busy society where there are more distractions for our attention and time than ever before and many days we focus on just getting through everything that crowds onto our to-do list!
But think of a specially busy day where it seems what can go wrong does go wrong .. and then in the middle of that day, the phone rings and its someone with an emergency who needs your help. Would you not drop everything and rush out to help?
Someone has wisely said that we always have time for the most important thing.
What if we made spending time with the Lord so important that everything else could be dropped or put on hold?
George Muller discovered a secret ... He said the more he had to do in a day, the more time he had to spent in prayer just so he could get it all done!
If I am making you feel guilty, that is not my intent. I want to melt your heart to respond to the longing of our Lord's heart to spend time with His children.
I love the story of the prodigal son. When he had been away from his Father and then finally decided to come home, he was ready to grovel in guilt at his father's feet... but what did the Father do? He brushed his guilt aside and declared .. "I'm just so happy you are here!"
I found this beautiful poem online that so describes God's love for us... His children.
God’s love for me,
is unfathomable . . .
for, His love for me
is immeasurable.
His love
rises,
higher than the sky
it goes further than . . .
any space shuttle can fly.
God’s love for me
is unbelievable . . .
for, His love for me
is undeniable.
His love goes deeper,
than the ocean’s floor
it goes further than . . .
any miner can dig for ore.
God’s love for me
is unexplainable . . .
for, His love for me
is unconceivable.
His love is wider,
than the whole universe
it goes further than . . .
any light the stars can disperse.
There’s nothing about me,
that is lovable . . .
yet, God’s love for me
is unstoppable!
Copyright 2018
Deborah Ann Belka
Deborah Ann Belka
