One of my favorite preschool books is called Love is a Handful of Honey. How can I not love lines like, "Love is that full of beans feeling that makes you leap out of your bed. Love is what makes you throw open the curtains and somersault round on your head...love's skipping out in the morning and hoping the day never ends, and love's what you feel when you all get together and go on adventures with friends."
Yet as I have read this book with my children, I've been bothered by a somewhat nebulous feeling of love thrown around from morning to night. So when we snuggle up close to read it together, we talk about how the love of God follows us through the day, making the sun shine brighter and each moment full of joy and meaning.
But what do we do with the moments that seem devoid of the love of God?
Sometimes, loved ones are taken from us in one beat of the heart.
Sometimes, financial catastrophe.
Sometimes, a friendship ends.
Sometimes, we get the news we have always dreaded yet somehow felt was a long time in coming.
Sometimes, the trials seem as though they will never end.
Where is love in this?
Amy Carmichael captured it this way:
The son found himself in a barren place.
His Father said, "In this place I will give you the peace that you are longing for. Here I will give you spiritual food that will nourish you. You are always with Me--no matter what the circumstances--and all that I have is yours."
Then the Father, with great gentleness, drew the son to himself. Quietly He said, "I am the one who allowed you to come into these humbling circumstances and who allowed you to hunger. I did this so that I might feed you with manna--My bread from heaven!
"Only in this way could I help you to know that you cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from My mouth."
The son said, "Give me this bread always!"
And when he grew thirsty he learned to cry, "The light of your face is my life!"
Later still, the son wondered why one like himself, who was so richly fed and cared for at times, should at other times feel so poor and needy and thirsty.
His Father replied by asking four questions:
"Can someone who has never thirsted know how precious is My living water?
"Can someone who has never discovered rivers of these living waters flowing on barren heights--can he ever lead his thirsty friend to those rivers?
"Can someone who has never walked the deep valleys of the spirit help a friend who is fainting--or lead this friend to the well-springs that will save the life of his soul?
"Can someone who has never seen burning sands in the wilderness turn into a refreshing pool--can he speak in praise of My marvels, or My power?"
The circumstances of our lives always speak the love of God. There are times we must simply listen more closely, but those are the times that will especially draw us to Him.
"Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it." Gen. 28:16
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