A Love that Remains

15/03/2019 21:55

The year 2019 apparently boasted the hottest January in Australia since records began. We sweltered through it but … just as I was leaving for Sri Lanka, a cool change walked in the door. Oh? What timing! When I returned to Adelaide in mid-February, the cool change left abruptly and Mr Heatwave whizzed in to dance with me. Surprisingly, I didn’t mind as much as I’d usually do. After Colombo’s humidity, the unusually high temperatures of Adelaide didn’t seem so bad after all. I was planning to hibernate at home for a few weeks anyway.

 

It was time for me to seek God, to determine what He required of me for the rest of the year, Monday is washing day. That week, the spot in the yard I’d usually stand hanging clothes was too hot to be in, with the strong, warm rays of the sun streaming down on me. Hmmm. What to do? A quick glance around yard showed me how to proceed. There was shade all the way down one side of our home.

So I moved our clothes airer to that section, carried my basket of wet clothes near it and began to hang the laundry. Perfect. I could move it later to a sunny spot—and the heat would dry them in no time. It wasn’t the hottest time of the day—yet! That meant that a 40 degree day in the shade was still comfortable—I even enjoyed the process as I chatted with my Papa. I looked up. A giant tree’s branches created a cool ceiling over my head.

 

It was my neighbour’s tree—what a beauty—reaching far and wide, a thousand emerald leaves shimmering in the sun. I stood there content feeling refreshingly cool. Over seven decades ago, on the 18^th of March 1946, my parents stood facing each other and said “I do”— a God breathed union it was! As I stood under my neighbour’s tree that day, I was safe and happy, protected by the tree’s shelter and enjoying its beauty on a 40 degree day.

My parents love was like that—a love that surrounded us as we grew up and kept us secure. Theirs was a love which sustained us as we grew older and we flew from their nest. Even though they are not here physically now, their love will remain with us for the rest of our lives. Today I pay tribute to my beloved Amma and Thatha—a couple who walked hand in hand together to make a difference in our world. Seventy three years since they became one, their love still overflows in our lives, a spring that will never run dry. 

And like the branches of my neighbour’s tree that reached beyond its borders, my parents spread their love well beyond their family and to the world beyond. When I was little I wondered how it was that Mama signed her letters with "All my love". How do you give away all your love to one person? Well, now I know. Love is a paradox isn't it? The more you give away, the more you have to share.

 

Isn’t that wonderful?

Isn’t that something to live by?

My parents’ love was of course just a faint reflection of the abundance of God’s all-consuming passionate love. His love is far stronger, far deeper, far richer than the love of anyone here on earth. It was His love Mama and Papa gifted us with and dressed us with—sparkling attire for every season. The reason their love still blesses us today is because of its source—the love of God, which is an all time, all purpose, unconditional love, a love which knows no bounds, a unique effervescent love, a shelter for every storm.

 

Would I respond to that love? Would I multiply the love of God that they showered me with? Would I spread it around my world? What would that look like? How far could it go? In my own efforts at loving others I have discovered that human love is frail and often fails, but praise God, God’s precious, perfect, powerful love never does. And we have a source to tap into that will never run dry.

His love brought the world into being.

His love breathed life into us.

His love endured death to bring us life.

His love will remain for all eternity.

 

Let me dance in the fountain of His love and splash it far and wide.

Would you like to join me?