A Little R&R

Oh, how he loves us so

Oh how he loves us

How he loves us so.

Words so simple, but put to music they are incredibly powerful. I have spent the last three weeks (or so) rediscovering how much our family and friends love us. We have been so blessed by an overwhelming outpouring of love in so many ways: houses to stay in and beds to sleep in; meals made purely based on our preference and request; hot coffee and energetic conversations at 7:30 in the morning; people willing to take a little drive to see us or transport us places; people willing to give up their vehicles for a couple days or a couple of hours so we can go somewhere; hugs (OH SO MANY HUGS!); asking good questions and having fantastic "let's catch up on life" conversations....

The list goes on.

I guess this year is different because I've had the time to really notice and reflect on these different outpourings of love. Previously I've been focused on understanding the changes, or trying to meet up with so many people, or other things. Believe it or not, it's really hard to come back after a year away; I tend to spend more time realizing how much I've missed than anything else. I think taking this vacation time to really relax and enjoy each moment for what it is has been good for me. To each of you whom we have interacted with while we have spent time in the Midwest: thank you, sincerely, from the bottoms of our hearts. To those of you on the West Coast whom we haven't seen yet: we look forward to heading your way soon!

But back to that song at the beginning of this post: we sang that in the church service we went to this week. I have heard the song before (Please look it up on Youtube if you have a moment: David Crowder Band, "How He Loves"), but it never struck me as particularly moving until this week. As we were singing, I considered the amount of love that I've felt from my family and friends recently, then compared that to the vast depth of love that God IS. I involuntarily began picturing certain faces in my head of people who do not know of this love, and once I started, I couldn't stop. Face after face flitted through my mind, and I realized that these faces are just the faces of people that I personally know; how many more millions of people in the world do not know of this great Love? Heartbreaking. 

Sometime in the near future, preferably right now, take a moment to picture someone in your head whom you know does not know the love of God. If you aren't sure, picture someone whom you know needs to feel loved in some manner. Go out and love that person. Love is shown in so many ways; don't be shy. You don't have to hug that person if you don't like giving hugs (or if it would be more awkward than loving), but there's always something that we can do to show God's love to the people around us through our actions and words. 

Yeah He loves us!
Oh how he loves us!

Oh how he loves us!

Oh how he loves!