Silly Patches.
When I got him, he came with a Moose toy, which I simply called, “Moose.” It was his favorite.
Like a child learning its first word, Patches soon learned that when I said, “Get the moose,” I meant his toy. We played for hours with that toy.
As the weeks blended into months, Moose got more and more worn until I had no choice but to set it aside. Patches looked for Moose for days.
One day I came upon a source for ordering an identical toy, so, of course, I did.
The day finally arrived where a wonderful package came. As I unwrapped it, Patches watched. When he saw Moose, he was overjoyed, jumping over and over in excitement.
I threw Moose to him, and he ran, grabbed it, found the squeaker, tossed it, and did all of the things that he loved so much. Within days though, he chewed off the antlers.
Patches doesn’t care. He loves Moose so much, and sleeps with him when he takes a nap. Look at the love that is there for this well-worn toy.
I am not sure that we always realize that God loves us like that. Fortunately, He doesn’t “chew off” our “antlers!”
However, life sometimes tosses and turns us and can make us feel that we are beat up and ugly. Many feel totally unloveable, and many also think they must look better, do more good, make more money, or whatever else to be worthy of anyone’s, especially God’s, love.
We don’t understand that God truly loves us just the way we are.
In Ephesians 3:17-19, Paul writes this prayer: “And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge — that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.”
In 1 Cor. 13, Paul tells us that love keeps no record of wrongs. And finally, in 1 John 4:9-10, John writes, “This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.”
Are you able to comprehend that it is not about how perfect you are? I picture God rejoicing over us, smiling tenderly when He looks at us, and holding us while we sleep.
Sigh. It’s such a lovely thought. Look at Patches with his beloved Moose, shredded antlers and all. God’s love is so much more.
Close your eyes for a moment. Feel the warmth of love surrounding you and filling you. Stay in that a moment, then open your eyes.
How does that feel? I encourage you to do that often. You are beloved. Know that.
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