The note read…
Sarah,
I am going to tell Mom that you were using a pen.
Your sister,
Hannah Brown
I was going through some files the other day when I discovered this priceless gem from the past. I suspect that at the time it was written, the author hadn’t been writing long and the recipient hadn’t learned to read! Everyone in the family had a good chuckle as we reread the note and reminisced about days gone by.
This note got me to thinking about how the relationship between my “youngest” has changed over the years. If a note was written and passed today it would read quite differently. You see as they have grown and matured so has their relationship.
Yes, they still test each other from time to time. Neither one of them is perfect, far from it. At times they fail, they disappoint, disagree, say things they’d wish they hadn’t, don’t do things they should and do things they shouldn’t. With out a doubt they sometimes under appreciate and under utilize the time they’ve been given to be together and they even forget to care about each other as they should.
But when I look at their relationship I see them learning what it means to truly love each other unconditionally. They are working towards the kind of unconditional love that God has for each one of us and expects us as family related by blood, His blood, to have for one another.
Unconditional love is not burdened with criteria that must be met. It is not dependent upon action, not destroyed by inaction, not detoured by word or deed in any way. It is absolute and has no limitations. Unconditional love is not retracted, will not be altered, can not be destroyed by disappointment or failure of any kind.
Check out what Paul says about God’s love in his letter to the Romans. God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 NIV)
Imagine that… If anyone ever had a reason to repeal His decision to love it would be God. Each one of us has failed to love Him as we should. Each one of us has sinned against Him – a clear demonstration of a lack of love on our part. Each one of us has also failed to love one another – doing further harm to our relationship with Him. Yet, God still loves - loves even though we haven’t and don’t reciprocate as we should – loves enough to send His Son to save unloving sinners like you and I.
His unconditional love, demonstrated and delivered by His Son restores our relationship with Him and becomes our motivation and inspiration to love one another in the same manner.
Is it easy to love this way? No. Is it possible? Yes. Is it necessary? Absolutely.
So, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” (1 John 4:7-11 NIV)
Resolved to love as He has,
Ron
