Just Because.........

“Hi Gwammy” my little 3 year old granddaughter’s voice sweetly sang over the phone. “Hello to You too!” I exclaimed in reply.

This wee angel lives 3,000 miles away and hasn’t seen me since she was a year old. Therefore, although she hears my voice, (her kind mother keeps us in touch through phone conversations weekly), she really doesn’t know who I am. Her young mind cannot configure a grandmother as her cognitive development has not ascended to that place yet. However, her intuitive thought gives her full confidence in what her parents have told her about me is true.

“I love you, my girl,” I tell her mid way through our conversation. She has taken me on a tour of her home believing I can see what she sees (classic Piagetan preoperational egocentrism). Her mother later told me she took the phone around the house touching or pointing to whatever she was describing.

She stopped the tour when hearing my words of affection.

“You love me?” a soft awe filled voice cut in.
“Yes, I love you very much?”
“You do?” her quizzical voice told me she was dumbfounded by this thought.
“And I miss you very much.” I softly added.
“You miss me?” her voice softened again in astonishment.

I have found through every conversation I have had with this sweet lass, this soft sense of awe whenever I profess my love to her. She could be vivaciously telling me of her latest adventures, but as soon as the words “I love you” followed by her name, enter the conversation, she becomes quiet, yet she believes me. It is as if those words were a precious gift to her or perhaps she is perplexed at a mysterious voice proclaiming affection in her little world. Whatever the case, a tremendously simple truth has come to me.

How often when Jesus proclaims His love for us, do we reply like my granddaughter?
“You love me?” “You miss me?” We cannot fathom that a just God would love those of us who sometimes so remove ourselves from His world to reign in our own as not to remember what He looks like. Yet here He is on the spiritual phone of our hearts saying He loves us.

That is difficult for me to fathom, especially lately. I see that it takes the intuitiveness of a child to believe just as the scriptures state.

So, how can we, I, believe that He truly does love me, us? Do I love my granddaughter? Unquestioningly! Is that love based on what she does or does not do? No, I am too far away to base any emotions on her behavior. Therefore, my affection is based in choice.

Why do I love this little girl I cannot see? Why does God love you?

Just because……because she is mine……because you are His……

Will that love dwindle due to your actions? No, He may be grieved only because of His love for you He wants the absolute best for you as I do for my granddaughter.

Therefore, if time and space never see my granddaughter and I united, I will still love her as deeply as I do now. For time, space, or distance can never separate my love for her.

Guess what….the same goes for you…..

Have a blessed new year….

Beth