Will you still love me – if?… That was the message of a recent devotion. An 8 year old child was asking her mother that very important question as she was beginning to learn the consequences of behavior. My 3 year old daughter has a book called ‘I love you Stinky Face’. It’s one that I’ve owned for her since birth and is one of my favorites to read to her. I think recently, it’s become one of her favorites too, as she sits and ‘reads’ the pictures, remembering the words I’ve read to her and matching it to the pictures. It centers on that very same topic. ‘Mama, mama, will you still love me if…’ And it goes through a series of questions, whether the little boy is a stinky skunk, a slimy monster with seaweed hanging from his body, a dinosaur, or a green alien from Mars. Each time, the Mama’s response is a kind one, detailing how she would react and what she would do, in each situation.
It wasn’t until the 8 year old girl had grown into a woman of 19, that her mother realized the profound impact of that statement. And how her response of telling her daughter that no matter what she had done, that she would love her. I’m sure she also showed her over that time, and that cemented her level of trust. Similarly, in my daughter’s story book, by the end, the little boy recognized that his mother would love him no matter what the situation, and only then was he able to profess his love as well to her, in his child like manner.
Far too often in our lives, we end up in situations where people limit their love for us based on what we do or don’t do. Did you pay the bills this week? You are worthy of love. Did you bend all your will to what I want you to do? You are worthy of love.. You did not? You are not worthy of love. And so it seems our self esteem and self worth is tied to whether we are loved in that moment, because we acted the way we were supposed to.
Aren’t you happy that this is not how God’s love works? Kaysi, you messed up again? Come, let me brush you off. I love you. Come to me in forgiveness, and I will not only tell you I love you, but I will show you just how much.
Today, my prayer is that no matter how many times I’ve failed my Heavenly Father, I’m reminded that He loves me with an everlasting love, that is not based on any conditions. He has loved me with an everlasting love. Help me not to run to earthly people seeking the love that only the One, True God can provide, and help me to remember this love when I seem to have lost my way.
