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Love You Forever
25 Years ago, my oldest son gave me a picture book written by Robert Munsch entitled
“Love You Forever.” The story begins showing a picture of a mother holding her tiny baby – her precious son. Through the pages the mother rocks her baby, and sings.
“I’ll love you forever; I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
FYI: I cried when I received the book, and truthfully, I get teary eyed every time I read it.
The boy is 9, then a teen, and then a grown man throughout she continues to sing. “I’ll love you forever; I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
The mother is very old, and a precious picture shows the son holding and lovingly cradling His dear mother. She will soon die. The son sings: I love you forever; I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my Mommy you’ll be.”
The grown and grieving son returns to his home and goes into the nursery where his new baby daughter is sleeping, He picks his baby up and rocks her as he sings. “I’ll love you forever; I’ll like you for always, as long as I’m living my baby you’ll be.”
Notice that there is a juxtaposition between “love you forever” and “like you always”. There is a difference; Always is time limited for all occasions, and Forever means constantly, enduring for an endless amount of time.
Even a deep love for another person can occasionally become weary. It doesn’t mean we stop loving, it means we are frustrated with the other person’s ability to meet our expectations. Like is infused with a measure of judgement and impatience —translation “you are annoying and plucking my last nerve.”
When my children were teens, I used to tell them “I love you but right now I don’t like you. Go to bed and we’ll start over tomorrow.” (In retrospect it was kinda harsh!)
Returning to the book - both mother and son pledge to love and like. What that means is; “I’ll try, I won’t give up, and you will always have a special place in my life and heart. No doubt - - admirable intentions. Newsflash: loving others is WORK!
In Hebrew, endure means perpetually, without a beginning or an end. God’s love endures forever, and faith allows us to believe, whole heartedly that God loves us. God’s Spirit resides in our heart encouraging us to have a higher more perfect love.
At every age, stage, and even when we rage God’s love does not waiver. It is forever...ONLY God is capable of having an enduring forever love, because God is love - it is His very essence.
Intellectually we know that God loves us, but as humans we crave evidence of God’s love. We want to feel, that God loves us. We want to feel He is holding, caring, and protecting us. Unfortunately, feelings are fleeting, but faith gives us footing. What we really want is to have firm footing.
Confidence in God’s love will grow when I sit silently and meditate on His Word. Gradually the need to “feel” will be transformed into an unshakeable sustaining faith.
Faith assures me that God will love and sustain me throughout my entire life. He carries and sustains me always and forever.
“Even to your old age and gray hairs I am He, I am He who will sustain you. I have made you and I will carry you; I will sustain you and I will rescue you.”
-Isaiah 46:4
God promises to love me forever and always and it fills my soul with hope. I am inspired to more perfectly love and like others always...
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