When did I get it?

We are doing a small group book study at church on Sunday nights over Crazy Love by Francis Chan. For our third session last night, we discussed how we knew God loved us and when did we 'get it.'

The answer came easily to me at first--when I was saved. Then I thought about when my kids were born and how overwhelmed I was with love (and fear, truthfully, but that's a whole 'nother blog post) for this tiny, helpless baby and how much I loved her and wanted to hold her and look at her and talk to her. I thought of the times we are singing praise songs about God sacrificing his Son on the cross for us and I become choked up with emotion at His priceless gift.

But for some reason, those answers, while correct, just didn't work for me to be MY true answer for when I 'got it.' Then we left church and as I drove westward home, God painted a magnificent sunset! By the time I got to the corner just a few moments later, the colors were dimmed and the sky was turning gray. That sunset was fleeting, but God gave me my answer at just the right moment for me to see it on my homeward journey.



Perhaps it's my farm-girl upbringing but it seems to me that God always speaks to me most audibly through nature. As I write this, I see the setting sun shining through the leaves of the tree in my front yard. It outlines each twig and branch and even the veins of the leaves. The brilliance of the sun blinds my eye, but it also illuminates the beauty of the tree.

How do I fathom God's love for me?

I see His strength and mighty power in rock and cliffs, icebergs and oceans. I see Him in the rolling clouds of storms.

I see the Master of the universe in the eternal stars, the changing seasons, the rising and setting of the sun. I see Him in the ripple of water flowing across rock.

And then I see that God's love is demonstrated with displays of strength and power; through the glitter of stars in an otherwise dark night; by the flutter of a golden leaf landing gently in my lap; through the never-ending color palette that delights my eye and fills me with awe at each sunrise and sunset; the delicate ripple of water that can eventually wear away the hardest stone.

God's love is powerful. It is fierce. It is never changing. It is beautiful and it is persistent.

Now. Maybe. I get it. God is continually showing us his love--if we only open our eyes to see it. If we can still our minds to hear it. And if we allow ourselves to be pliable enough to be changed by it.