If you're anything like me, the election news has been overwhelming lately. Online and in person, people are giving their opinions and then fighting over those opinions. As a non-conflict person I want to crawl under a blanket. And maybe not come out until January.
I get it that people are opinionated about the election. It makes sense. There's a lot of big stuff being discussed. But here’s what’s breaking my heart: the lack of respect for each other. The absence of kindness and grace.
If you don’t know this about me—though I mention it a lot—I am a crier. I want to be someone who doesn’t cry at Hallmark commercials or after hearing the story of the woman who recently walked up to me at Starbucks and told me her daughter’s medical diagnosis and that she likely won’t live, but it’s not in my DNA.
But for friends, I cry the easiest. When my people are hurting, I hurt too.
I recently went to a local auction, prompted by my friend, Heather (of the grace dress). I love garage sales and thrift stores, but this was my first foray into an auction. A few days before the auction was scheduled to start, I spotted this beauty…
And was torn about going back to bid on it. I mean, what were the odds it would be affordable? And on top of that, it’s massive. I knew it wouldn’t fit in my house, but I do have a covered back patio area I’d considered putting a table like this under. Sort of an outside dining area.
I couldn’t resist going on the day of the auction. I was so nervous! I didn’t know if I’d be able to understand the auctioneer, and I wasn’t sure how to do any of it. When the time came to bid, I realized I could understand the auctioneer—he looked right at me when he said the price—and the bids went quickly. All of a sudden, I was the only one left at far less of a price than I’d been willing to pay. Heather and I squealed and high fived, as do all adults at auctions, and I called my husband to tell him we’d won a prize. When we got it home, we tried it inside, and despite its massive length, decided to keep it indoors. Let’s be honest—it wasn’t even a dilemma. This girl is perfect in all of her scuffed glory and she deserves the best place in the house. A few cans of spray paint later, my old chairs were ready for their new partner.
Lately I’ve been meditating on God’s love for us and how it is never thrifty or short changed. I’m not sure where I get my jaded idea of how God loves us, but I am sure it’s a tenth—or less—than what he actually feels for me. I tend to equate God’s love on a human level since that’s the only understanding that I have. But that doesn’t work for our heavenly father. He loves us with crazy abandon. And maybe that’s why we can’t understand it—because it doesn’t make sense to us. How can he love us like that? Doesn’t he know we’re petty and jealous and insecure and wanting to claim revenge when we should be leaving our hurts in his hands? He knows. That’s why we don’t believe he can love us like he does.
“God is love. He didn’t need us. But he wanted us.
And that is the most amazing thing.”
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I need a reminder. A slap in the face, I guess. A big sign screaming, HE LOVES ME. HE LOVES YOU. Even in my mess, he finds me adorable. He adores us. That adoration—that’s a big word. Dictionary.com definition is as follows:
the act of paying honor, as to a divine being; worship.
reverent homage.
fervent and devoted love.
Fervent, reverent, divine. These are not words to be easily dismissed. They speak of love that isn’t fickle or easily swayed. These are cementing words. Today, I want to be awash in God’s love, to know it so intimately that I cannot and will not doubt.
What is holding you back from believing he loves you deeply and with abandon? Tell him. Tell a friend. Don’t stay in that untruth, because there’s beauty to be found, and I don’t want you to miss it.
“God’s unfailing love for us is an objective fact affirmed over and over in the Scriptures.
It is true whether we believe it or not. Our doubts do not destroy God’s love,
nor does our faith create it. It originates in the very nature of God, who is love,
and it flows to us through our union with His beloved Son.”
~ Jerry Bridges, Trusting God: Even When Life Hurts
Jill Lynn Buteyn is a co-author of Just Show Up with Kara Tippetts, which received the 2016 Selah Award for Non-Fiction General and Book of the Year. She also writes Christian fiction with themes of love, humor, and grace as Jill Lynn. She guest blogs at MundaneFaithfulness.com and can also be found on the interwebs at Jill-Lynn.com. Jill loves to connect with readers on Facebook & Instagram.
Dear Caregivers,
I was just talking about you all today with a friend. Thinking of how you have loved someone sacrificially, possibly for years. Maybe even decades. Yet even if it’s been minutes you’ve been there for a loved one, here you are, caring for someone who can’t return the same. They might love you, but maybe they don’t even know it anymore. They might be that far out of your grasp. Or perhaps the relationship just isn’t what it once was. You are in a caregiver role, and everything has changed. The world’s upside down. You never asked for it. Neither did your loved one. So you choose the best in every single day, and you hold on even when your heart is breaking and you want to cry out that this wasn’t what you expected.
Jason recently wrote about the shock of looking around to see Kara is gone. It’s been over a year now, and I find grief to be a strange creature. I think often that I am so thankful for the friendship we got to have. What a gift! Some long for that very thing and no matter how much more time I would have liked, I am so very grateful for what I had.
