Good Morning Friends! Got your coffee or tea? ok, great, let’s settle in for a nice little chat…
Have you ever felt so happy for someone that it just kinda feels like your heart is smiling?! Or, have you ever felt so sad for someone that your heart feels like it’s crying? Recently I have had both of those circumstances. Normally, I’m the kind of person that likes to hear something bad or sad first, but today let’s visit the happy stuff first.
So, the other day I was visiting with a friend who recently got engaged. Happy can’t get much “happier” than with THAT kind of news, right?! I nearly leaped out of my chair with a cheer (I didn’t, but I’m pretty sure everyone within a few hundred feet heard me squeal with sheer excitement and happiness for her!). My friend has always been a very “happy” person, but the last several months her smile has just had this radiating beauty that said HAPPY all over her! She has had this little “gleam” in her eyes that expressed how happy she is. As I drove away from my visit with my friend, with my very happy heart!, I thought about how God must feel every time we have something good, positive and “happy”. Have you ever thought about God being your cheerleader? He is! The next time you get an “A” on a test or a great evaluation at work try to imagine God in Heaven saying, “YES!” and jumping for joy because He loves us so much that He celebrates ALL the good things!
Now let’s consider the opposite of happy and visit sadness. Let’s say you have a loved one diagnosed with cancer or alzheimer’s, or your child is having great difficulty in school. You know, the kind of stuff that makes your heart feel like it’s breaking or crying ~ a “heavy heart”. We all can list example after example here of sad situations, right? Let’s consider for a moment how God must feel when something bad happens. If He celebrates when something great happens then He must weep when something sad happens, right? Right! God’s heart is heavy when our’s is, and He weeps with us because of His immense LOVE for us. Does that erase our pain and heavy heart? No, but for me, it sure makes the sadness more bearable. How about for you?
Somehow when I know that someone else feels my pain ~ empathizes with me ~ it makes me feel better – validated. When I feel God’s love and compassionate understanding I just feel comforted – secure. It’s like floating in the water in a lot of ways. You know when you’re swimming and you stop to just float ~ you have to completely relax to be able to float, because if you don’t relax you will sink, right? That’s the way God’s love and compassion is for us, when we completely relax into Him we float! Translation ~ He takes it all from us, He is in control, He is holding us, supporting us so that we may float. And, THAT is complete SECURITY which is God’s complete and unending love.
Maybe you aren’t a swimmer? Then, think about your favorite blanket. You know, then one that you like to nap with! The one that not only makes you feel warm, but the one that makes you feel snuggly! The next time you wrap yourself in that blanket think of God just hugging you ~ holding you. That’s what His love does ~ it wraps us in complete security.
Friend, may you feel that love and security as you go throughout your day. Maybe your day will allow for a swim to float or a nap to snuggle in ~ if not, may I challenge you to take a few minutes to slow down on your busy day for just a few minutes to clear your mind, slow your breathing down, and imagine yourself floating or snuggling and feel God’s security. And as you leave that short moment remember~ “Love never fails” (1 Corinthians 13:8)!
(For more inspirational reading on this subject please visit www.holleygerth.com)
Jacqueline's Jive 