A Word of LOVE

Wow!  What a beautiful day out here in mid-America today!  Fiver and I went for a walk around 9:30 this morning and I was instantly captivated by the deep blue skies, the few remaining white puffy clouds and the gentle but warm SSW breeze coming up from Texas and the Gulf of Mexico.  I was pleasantly surprised at Fiver as he barely seemed to notice that just about every dog was out and loudly barking at us as we traversed the gauntlet of backyards that face the golf course.  Upon the approach of our destination of the neighborhood park and pond, I caught a glimpse of two city tractors mowing the grass along the sloping bank of the large pond.  It seemed like everyone was out enjoying the morning!

On our return trip I found myself staring out over the neighborhood, the canopy of blue overhead and the reappearing green on the lawns and golf course.  Fiver seemed content to sniff the alluring scents on the lawn and in the air and to be honest… I didn’t want to go home but to keep on walking!

Piper loved to walk and through the years, in every state we lived, we spent countless hours strolling around our various neighborhoods almost daily, enjoyed the challenge of new trails whenever and wherever we went on vacation, and explored many new-to-us walking paths around the city when we originally lived here from 2006-2009. 

I realized this morning that Piper and I had been holding hands and walking together since the very beginning days of our relationship, starting with our daily lunchtime strolls around the high school campus.  While at Chico State we regularly walked through the neighborhoods bordering the school’s beautiful campus and hiked many trails in the famous Bidwell Park where the forest scenes for Earl Flynn’s Robin Hood were filmed in the 1930’s.  And we just never stopped ever since!

So, it is not unusual to find me and Fiver out walking when I feel overwhelmed with emotions over Piper’s homegoing.  I’m not sure what it is, but by the time we come out the front door, walk across the lawn and step foot on the sidewalk, I already have begun to feel regenerated and re-powered with the love of God for me.

And speaking of the love of God… While out walking on Saturday, I had the revelation that on the final section of trail that Piper and I walked during her existence on this earth, that the Lord expressly encouraged us to focus on: “The great magnitude of the astonishing love of Christ in all its dimensions.” (Ephesians 3:18-19 The Passion Translation)

After I quit my outside job in 2010 and could focus 100% on Piper’s care, I clearly remember the Lord instructing me to “saturate Piper in the Word (of God).”  I didn’t realize it at first, but after a while I came to understand that all that Word was not only for her benefit, but for mine as well!  On Saturday’s afternoon jaunt along the golf course, I realized that scripturally speaking, one could rightfully exchange the command to “saturate Piper in the Word” with the thought that maybe He was actually telling me to “saturate us in His Love!”

If you recall, John 1:1 tells us “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (God’s Word ©)  Then in I John 4:8, 16, the Apostle of love also declares that “God is love!” (God’s Word ©)  So, if you put the two definitions together you can justify the command of the Lord instructing me to “saturate Piper and I in HIS LOVE which is HIS Word!”

Immediately following that revelation, I saw how God had begun to show me during the second year of Bible School, the need of having an intimate, experiential and very personal knowing of God’s LOVE for me and Piper in what was just then beginning to come to light concerning what was going on with her health.  I understood that it was my ever-increasing knowledge of the intimate ways in which God loved us that got me up every day with hope in my heart and an uncanny joy about me, for the next ten years.

I also saw on that walk over the weekend, that our daily saturation in His Word was not just about increasing and fortifying our intimate knowing of HIS LOVE FOR US, but also of OUR LOVE FOR HIM… as well as increasing the capacity of MY LOVE FOR PIPER so that I could take care of her and do anything, at anytime for her WITHOUT question or ANY hesitation.

I’m not sure if it was the right reaction or not, but when that last thought hit me, I immediately burst out laughing and thought back about some of the different things I did for her that were not easy, very personal, and emotionally (as well as physically ) difficult… but yet necessary.  I realized that on most of those occasions, I didn’t take the time to think… BUT JUST DID!  It didn’t matter what the need entailed.  I loved her and promised her that I would ALWAYS be there for her… simply said, nothing else mattered to me but her best.

And all of that effort, energy and ability was empowered by the saturation of HIS LOVE in us, for us and through us!  Have you ever taken a personal inventory to see just how much of HIS LOVE you have residing in you at any given time?  From my personal experience… It’s definitely something that YOU HAVE to keep building up in you through the daily input of HIS WORD!

Now that’s something to chew on… wouldn’t you agree?  Have a great new week, and as you do, say with me… “I am expecting to fill up on GOD’S LOVE today, in order TO DO what God calls ME TO DO today!”