The Love of God: One Mom’s Reflection

This week’s post is by Sarah Lundgren, who is our director of children’s ministry. She and her husband, Bjorn, have two sons and two daughters, and they praise God for His mercies that are new every morning.

The moment I first held my baby boy, I discovered a whole new level of love.  I gazed at my son while he slept, and I wept at his beauty and his steady breathing.  I read him board books while he chewed on them.  I studied his face and his sounds.  I loved him so much it hurt.  Gabriel filled up my heart.  And I asked God if He could really love me, His child, this much.  God said yes–even MORE!

Before giving birth to my second son, I had moments of panic.  If my heart was so full of love for Gabriel, how could I possibly love another baby with the same intensity?  How could I give more than what I had? I worried.  I fretted.  I ate too much chocolate.  I prayed.

Then I met my son Caleb.  And this miracle happened: instead of my love dividing between my children, God multiplied it.  He doubled my heart in size as I held my new baby.   And God has done it again and again.

My babies are no longer newborns imitating my faces and chewing on board books.  We have new obstacles, new territory, new stages.  And so I must ask for more love and more grace to expand my heart big enough to patiently endure whining, meltdowns, it’s-no-fair moments and bedtime insanity. Just when I think I have come to the end of my love, God gives me more.  More than enough. Farther than the east is from the west.  I imagine God’s love for His children never even comes close to any limit.  But in this way of stretching my heart to cover my children, I understand more fully my place in God’s heart.

As we celebrate Mother’s Day, may we also celebrate God’s perfect love for us–His children.  May we ask God to expand our imperfect love for our children to overflowing.  May God minister to those who, for a thousand different reasons, struggle with grief and loss and pain on Mother’s Day. Where the ground is dry, may our Great Shepherd lead us to peaceful waters.  May we gaze back into the countenance of our Savior as a newborn gazes into the eyes of its mother.  Children of God who are completely dependent, with hearts completely full of His Love.