Ever notice how when your children were smaller you could
get away with a lot more? You could spell things in front of them that you
wanted to keep secret and hide their birthday presents at the top of your
closet. And then when they got a little older, you could do what I used to do.
Every day I would write
little notes and tuck them into their lunch boxes. Yep, for several years, when
they were younger, as I'd finish making their lunches the night before, I'd
take their folded napkin and jot down a quick little message like, "You're
the coolest kid around!" or "I'm so glad you're MY son!" And of
course there would be lots of happy faces and X's and O's in the corners. The
kids liked getting them and I have to admit, I loved writing them. That is
until my communiques ran into a bit of a snag.
Yes, I was totally caught
off guard when, at the beginning of another school year, our oldest child said,
as nonchalantly as she could, "Oh and Mom, you don't HAVE to write those
little notes anymore." What?? I was crushed! It seemed some of her friends
had begun making comments about the little "love notes from Mommy"
... and well, I guess that was my cue to stop (sniff). But I didn't let her get
away that easily. Because we hadn't had that little "bonding time" in
the middle of the day, the minute she got home from school I'd take her on my
lap, wrap my arms around her, and hug her tight and tell her that I loved her.
(In fact, snuggling up to my grown-up kids is something I still love to do!)
Yep, I had to move beyond the "love on paper" approach and focus my
love in person. And that's basically what God did through His Son, Jesus.
It's in the book of Hebrews
that we find it was God Himself who was the One to fill the need and move from
the "written" to the "personal". In fact, listen to His
words to us, as taken from the 31st chapter of the book of Jeremiah and
recorded in Hebrews.
"This new plan I'm making with Israel isn't going to be
written on paper, isn't going to be chiselled in stone; this time I'm writing
out the plan in them ... They'll get to know Me firsthand ... They'll get to
know Me by being kindly forgiven, with the slate of their sins forever wiped
clean." Hebrews 8:10, 12 (The Message)
Jesus... God's love
up-close-and-personal. Not only was He the incarnation of God (God-in-flesh),
He was the joy of God's smile, the comfort of His touch, the compassion in His
tears. With the delivery of Grace, God got personal. And by coming to earth
Himself, Jesus became God's love-note to mankind, hand-delivering the ultimate
solution to our separation from God.
It's funny how that works...
just like with our kids, while we may not always appreciate the depth and
extent of His divine love, it is something we can always count on. No matter
how old we get.