This week we continue our advent celebration. Each week, four prior to Christmas Eve, we gather to light a candle and consider the coming of our savior. It is a wonderful time to stop in the midst of the season and truly focus on the reason for all the wonderful merriment of Christmas. This final week we celebrate His LOVE for us.
As I sat at my computer beginning to compose this week’s devotion, I was met with a bit of an intrusion…my pesky, porky Yorkie, Hughie. I had finished my Christmas shopping, house cleaning and dinner preparations and was looking forward to collecting my thoughts in a rare moment of quiet and calmness. Hughie normally sits at my side on the bench with me as I write devotions for the blog. Today he had other plans. Today he kept jumping up onto the desk sticking his wet nose in my face, laying down on the mouse pad or licking my fingers as I tried to type. Hughie is a Yorkshire “Terrier”, which is by God’s design a very persistent breed. This may be a handy quality if you need him to track or catch prey…not so fine a quality when the task he is focused/driven to accomplish is to have your attention.
No matter how often I placed him off the desk or scolded his efforts to distract me, he continued to insist I stop everything and love on him. Yep, all he wanted was for me to stop typing and pet his head, scratch his ears and hold him in my lap….none of which are easily done while writing. When placed on the floor he sat below my desk and cried/whined nonstop. He was not going to give up; he is a terrier after all. He wanted love and attention, and NOTHING was going to keep it from him. I finally conquered his strong will by placing him in another room altogether, along with a nice bone and his favorite blanket. I tend to get frustrated with his antics; dogs should not be this needy. Of course, I realize I am to blame in part…he loves me.
In the morning, he seeks me out. He needs to lick my face and feel me rub his furry noggin before he even thinks about eating his breakfast. If I am still upstairs, and the hubby lets him out of the kennel, he races to the bedroom door and whines/waits for me to emerge and greet him. Every time I come home, no matter how long I have been away, to the mailbox or mall, he wags his whole body with absolute relief and joy.
I have often teased my family that if they would love me as much as Hughie does life would be so much better for all of us. I’m not saying my family doesn’t love me, they just don’t love me with the tail wagging, face licking enthusiasm I get from the dog. (I am not saying I want my face licked by any member of the family by the way…you know what I mean).
Now that I think of it, I do know what it feels like to be loved enthusiastically by someone other than my dog. My God loves me like that and more. God desires to be close to me. He never gives up on me, never stops loving me even when I try to shut Him out or quiet His calling on my heart. He never tires of my pushing Him away, He waits patiently for me to turn to Him and experience His love. He does not love me because I have earned or deserved it. He loves me because I am His creation and it saddens Him that my sin separates me from Him. He has provided a way for me to be restored to His fellowship, be forgiven of my sin, and find peace through the sacrifice of His Son.
“By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be a propitiation for our sins.” ( 1John 4:9&10)
Our God is more tenacious than any terrier and loves us with unfathomable enthusiasm! This week we consider His great love evidenced by the birth of His son, our Savior. Let us respond with an enthusiastic, tenacious love for our God!
Tuesday With Teri 