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You were saved by faith in God, who treats us much better than we deserve. This is God’s gift to you, and not anything you have done on your own.
-Ephesians 2:8
During my time in college, I kept a wide variety of fish as pets, but I had a particular fondness for one albino weather loach. Weather loaches are long, cylindrical fish with three sets of barbels at their mouth. They’re called weather loaches because they become more active when the barometric pressure changes. It’s not uncommon to see them suddenly swim right up to the surface and back down again, and sometimes they can do so with such force that they fly out of the tank and onto the ground below.
To make sure the loach had a varied diet, I would sometimes blanch cucumbers or carrots and drop them into the tank, and I also remember having quite a selection of other foods so as to offer all my fish a different culinary delight every day. It sounds silly, but I became quite attached to the loach. Sometimes it would uproot the plants in the tank or pester one of the other fish, but I still cared for that little loach. No matter what it did, I couldn’t help but love it. I’m sure those of you with a cat, dog, or other pet know what I mean.
If I think about the unconditional love I have had for the loach, it can help me understand God’s unconditional love for me a little better. I don’t mean to say that we are like pets to God, but there are some similarities. When I purposefully say hurtful things to others or when I hesitate to reach out and help when someone is in need, I sometimes wonder how God could still love me. After all, I know I should be kind to others and be willing to help others whenever I can. But I believe God’s love is unconditional. There is nothing I could ever do to make God stop loving me. That love is unchanging and ever-present. It reminds me of some of the words from a wonderful choral piece (https://youtu.be/Ks_DirYfDig) the women’s chorus performed when I was in college: Let nothing frighten you, all things are passing. God never changes.
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