Like many of you, I am a mother. There are very many wonderful things about being a mom, and many challenging things about the calling as well. I want so much for my children to know Jesus Christ and to love Him passionately. I want so much for them to grow in the grace and knowledge of who He is, and to allow Him to completely change their lives, desires, and plans.

As a mom though, I am continuously faced with my inadequacies. There is no perfect mom, I realize that, and perfection for the sake of having my children ‘think’ I’m perfect is not my goal. My desire however is for them to see a clear representation of Jesus. I fall short in many areas, but I truly know that God’s grace is sufficient for my weakness. I have plenty of weaknesses but praise God He has plenty of power!

I have thought about this many times before but never with the awareness God has given me now. There is one thing I know for sure. No matter what happens to me or to my children. No matter how often I may mess up, no matter how often I run out of energy, no matter how old I get, no matter how busy I get, I know this with all my heart. Nobody will ever love my children the way I do. They were and are a physical part of me. They were and are a part of my mind and heart that is interwoven with everything that I am. I didn’t even think a love like this was possible. It is so deep, so consuming, so powerful, and so tender. Other people can and do love my children, but not like I do.

I can’t help but think that that is exactly how Jesus feels about YOU and about me. He knows other people can and do love us, but nobody will ever love us like He does. Nobody. I am a child so loved that there is never a time that He is not thinking of me or loving me. At my worst, He loves me better than anyone. At my best, He loves me completely despite the fact that He knows how far I remain from my best. Jesus loves me…this I know. His love makes all the love of all the mothers everywhere look like a single drop of water in comparison to the ocean of love He has for us as individuals.

I find it so hard to put the love I feel for my children into words; there is nothing I wouldn’t do for them; no sacrifice I wouldn’t make; no comfort I wouldn’t give up; no hardship I wouldn’t face if it meant protecting them from harm. Their best interest takes top priority. And as much as I understand and believe that Jesus loves me, I know there are no words for that kind of love. There were only actions; significant earth shattering actions. Actions that led Him up a hill called Calvary, dragging the cross of wood that He would die on. With nothing left in His human body, only one thing drove Him on. LOVE. You see there was nothing He wouldn’t do for you; no sacrifice He wouldn’t make, no hardship He wasn’t willing to face. He not only ‘would’ do it, He did do it. Suffering like none of us have ever known, sacrifice and hardship that will always be unequaled.

For Today: Now, as I think about my children, I think about my Savior. I am the child He feels this way about…and He let me have a glimpse inside this amazing love by giving me a love for my own children that is so much a part of who I am. As I continue to strive to be the mother He desires me to be, I pray that I will not ever forget that there most definitely is Someone who loves my children more than I do. This love is not a ‘part’ of Him, it is all of Him.  It is who He Is.   God is love.  1John 4:8 

      THE LOVE OF GOD by Frederick M. Lehman

The love of God is greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell;

It goes beyond the highest star, and reaches to the lowest hell;

The guilty pair, bowed down with care, God gave His Son to win;

His erring child He reconciled, and pardoned form his sin. 

O love of God, how rich and pure! How measureless and strong! It shall forevermore endure the saints’ and angels’ song! 

Could we with ink the oceans fill, And were the skies of parchment made,

Were every stalk on earth a quill, And every man a scribe by trade,

To write the love of God above, Would drain the ocean dry;

Nor could the scroll contain the whole, Tho’ stretched from sky to sky.