Heavenly Parenting

Had a lovely conversation with my Mum yesterday. She just decided, (as you do on your daughter's 22nd birthday in the year when she's getting married, leaving home and starting a new life), to tell me that she loved me more than I would ever know. She said that her love for me was completely unconditional, completely unchanging and completely unearnable. She also said that she looked forward to the day when I had children, because then I would fully grasp just what it meant for her to love me so much.

It got me thinking about God and His love for me. My mum isn't a Christian and completely believes her love is the most anyone could have for anyone - she wasn't claiming some level above anyone else, she explained that any parent loves their child in this way, and not to is to go against nature. I see lots of evidence in the world that some parents dont have this love for their children, but I expect the majority do. Obviously my Mum's love for me isn't entirely unconditional, even if she claims it is. Obviously her love isn't unchanging - it can't be, she isn't perfect. And in humanly terms, I suppose as far as daughters go I've given her a fairly easy ride - she probably doesn't have to battle to love me on a daily basis!

But with God - well in spiritual terms, I'm a complete mess. I screw up more than you realise, more than I realise... I reject God, I go other ways, I decide to satisfy myself with worldly things rather than Heavenly, I put barriers between myself and my Saviour, and I treat His people so horribly sometimes that it shocks me, never mind God. God has absolutely every reason not to love me! He has every reason to say I haven't earned the right to be His child and therefore can't be. But He doesn't do this!

God went to immeasurable ends so that I could be His child. His love IS unconditional. His love IS unchanging! The love and the emotion He feels towards me vast outweighs my mum's - she sobs when I sob, she laughs when I laugh, she claims she feels my joy and my pain - if that's true, if this mother-daughter bond she speaks of IS so real and so strong, then how much more is my Heavenly Creator, my redeemer, my everlasting Father in Heaven's love for me, His child? How much more does He know me, feel what I feel, love me, cherish me, treasure me?

It's a blessing to have such a loving family, fiance, friends who love me more than I ever deserve to. But nothing outweighs the blessing of knowing that my Heavenly Father loves me, because He IS love. His love never, ever fails.