God often compares His love for us (Christians – men and women) to what we think of as “romantic” love.
I think for ladies, especially, God put in us a desire to be desired. To be pursued. To be noticed and known. To have someone appreciate what we do, understand us and really see us (and love us anyway!). To think we’re beautiful.
We expect our spouses, and to a lesser extent, our friends, to do that for us. But, well, they’re human, just like we are, and they let us down, don’t try, maybe seem like they don’t even care, or they’re more focused on themselves. Just like we are.
I think that’s why we love to read romance. We can read about men who take the Biblical command (whether it’s a Christian romance or not) to love their wives, truly love their wives, and give them honor, seriously. We can live that through the books we read. We live vicariously through those caring friendships and tightknit communities.
So, I told you all that I went on a writing retreat. I pushed myself pretty hard and wrote a third of a book pretty much every day, which, honestly, wiped me out and I spent most of the rest of my time each day wandering around the house, occasionally opening the freezer door to see if any ice cream had magically appeared. (It didn’t, just in case anyone was wondering.)
I got up early, before dawn, every day. Most days I had almost five thousand words written before the sun came up. I took a break at five thousand words.
One morning I got my first 5K in and was standing at the window, watching the eastern sky as it started to lighten. Light blues, pinks, oranges, yellows and eventually the whole sky filled with glorious color and I wondered, is anyone else seeing this? This is amazing. So beautiful.
It was warm where I was and one day after I was done with my third of a book, I was out, sitting on the grass, in the middle of this cow pasture. lol Just me and the cows. No other houses or people in sight.
There was a pond, and on the other side of the pond there were big Georgia pines. As I was sitting there, there was a little breeze, and the tops of the pines shivered and shimmered and were so pretty. I thought about how God is everywhere and how He was in the wind and the pines, and I thought about how He made things so beautiful that even when the wind shook the trees there was beauty in something so simple.
And I was the only one who could see it.
And it hit me then. God was over in those pine trees, shaking them, making them look beautiful, just for me. Like He was saying, “Hey, Jessie. You’ve been working hard and you’re tired, so just sit there and relax and check this out! Let me give you something beautiful.”
Directly above the pines there was a hawk riding an afternoon thermal. Just lazy circles in the sky, so effortless and graceful and inspiring, and it was like God was saying, “Look at this, Jessie. Relax, take a break and enjoy for a bit.”
And then, suddenly, all around me I saw all the little things God had done to catch my attention, to make me see Him, to let me know He was there, to show that He loved me by giving me grace and beauty – the touch of sun on my face, the fresh breeze across my skin, squishy ground under me and the fresh and beloved scent of spring. That promise of new birth and new beginnings and brighter days and relief from the cold and the gloom of winter.
The promise that God fulfills every year because He loves me.
Maybe my eyes opened just a bit and I saw a little glimpse of how much my Father loves me. How much He tries to show me every day. How much I missed because I was busy. Busy being unhappy because people weren’t remembering me or loving me or saying kind things to me or seeing me or acting like they thought I was worth anything.
I was busy thinking about things that didn’t matter done by people who are sinners just like me.
When the God of the whole world, the God of the universe, the God of ALL creation, LOVES me.
He pursued me the whole way to a cow pasture in South Georgia, just so he could give me shimmering pines and breathtaking sunrises and soaring hawks to impress me, to draw me to Him, to show me He knows me and cares about me and wants me. God wants me.
He’ll follow me to Penn’s beautiful woods and give me soft, white unique snowflakes falling on the hill behind my house, and He’ll pursue me to Virginia, speaking to me in the murmur of the creek or the bubble of the Piney River and cradle me in the arms of the majestic Blue Ridge, give me beautiful views and a tree lined drive and calves on my birthday and a healthy family and He’ll teach me to laugh and find the fun in everything and He’ll put in me a desire to share that with everyone I meet.
Because He loves me He’ll give me trials to grow me and make me stronger and make me turn to Him so I can know him more fully.
He’ll give me battles, so I can look to Him to fight for me.
He’ll whisper to my heart in the middle of the night, give me songs and call my warbly singing and amateur playing joyful noise that thrills Him.
He takes what I give and calls it enough.
I am enough for God. Just me. Just the way I am – imperfect and sinful. Insecure and needy. God knows. And He loves and pursues me anyway.
He created me to look exactly the way I do – gave me the honor of being created in His image – and He calls me beautiful.
He gives me a sunset every evening that says, “I love you.” Moonlight on fields of snow and Mourning Doves and Hoot owls and fresh baby calves taking that first shaking breath. Every bit of that and so much more because He loves me.
God romances me daily.
He’s doing the same for you.
I’m not even talking about the sacrifice He made for me on Calvary. The beautiful future He has planned for me in Heaven. The unspeakable joy and beauty that awaits. I’m just talking about His love now, in this second.
I love Valentine’s Day, but it can be a sad or lonely day if you don’t have someone to share it with – whether you’re with someone who doesn’t celebrate or whether you’re alone. I think that’s mostly because we get our feelings caught up in expecting imperfect humans to meet needs that only God can.
God loves us more than any human ever will or could. He wants to romance us. He wants to be enough for us – God IS enough.
I know lately I’ve been looking around, just overwhelmed with all the ways God sends me little love notes. Would you look around with me? See His love – it’s everywhere.
His great love can fill every sad and lonely part of us. Let’s let Him.