Ours was a difficult-to-describe love.
Volunteering in a daycare for low-income children in Bangkok, Thailand, I connected deeply with one of the four-year-old boys. Although we didn’t speak the same language—the Thai greeting for hello was the extent of our verbal communication—love and kindness easily broke through our language barrier.
On my last day in Thailand, he babbled giddily while presenting me with a hand-colored drawing. The daycare owner helped translate that he had drawn a picture of a boat just for me. That drawing meant the world to me. Although we couldn’t understand each other when we spoke, that little boy and I cared deeply for each other.
God’s love is also difficult to express, much like my difficult-to-explain love for that little boy. God’s love is so infinite and complete that Paul says it surpasses knowledge itself.
Communicating with God can sometimes feel like attempting to converse with someone who speaks a different language. Yet, we can remain sure of His infinite love for us, manifested all around us through the beauty of creation, the promises in His Word, a heartfelt song, or even a child’s drawing.
Love is truly the universal language. Our love for others is the greatest testimony to a world yearning for the ever-enduring love of our Creator. God wants us to love others with the same love with which He first loved us. While doing this is an impossible standard to achieve on our own, we can with God’s help.
Who are the people around you that you need to love?
(photo courtesy of pixabay and sasint)
(For more devotions, visit Christian Devotions.)
Emily Marszalek enjoys the simple pleasures in life in the Pacific Northwest with her husband Nick and their two Goldendoodles, Charlie and Lucy. She loves jigsaw puzzles, animals, rock music, and all flavors of birthday cake.