Faith and I have been having a rough couple of days lately( I know what you're thinking...how could anyone not get along with me? But it happens.) So she sent me "Sonnet 17" just to remind me how much she loved me.

Part of it goes a little like this--

I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way

I love you because I know no other way.

I can almost hear God whispering that to me.

Heck, He's practically it screaming it at me to get through my density.

I love you
I know no other way.

Beautiful isn't?

It reminds me very much of 1 John 4. Verse 7-12 of this sonnet reminds us that love comes from God. It goes on to say that God is the very definition of love. Verse 16 then simply states that God is love.

Can't get much straightforward than that! If you commune with God, then you're face-to-face with His almighty love. If you experience love in any form, then you're getting a glimpse of God.

So He's whispering to us, "I love you child. For I know no other way. This is how I show you my love: I sent my one and only Son into the world so that you might live through him."

There's an ancient hymn that's been redone by modern worshipper, Matt Redman called "Here is Love". It presents one of the most striking portraits of the love of God:

Here is love, vast as the ocean
Lovingkindness as the flood
When the Prince of Life, our Ransom
Shed for us His precious blood
Who His love will not remember?
Who can cease to sing His praise?
He can never be forgotten
Throughout Heav'n's eternal days

On the mount of crucifixion
Fountains opened deep and wide
Through the floodgates of God's mercy
Flowed a vast a gracious tide
Grace and love, like mighty rivers
Poured incessant from above
And Heav'n's peace and perfect justice
Kissed a guilty world in love

Chorus:
No love is higher, no love is wider
No love is deeper, no love is truer
No love is higher, no love is wider
No love is like Your love, o Lord

So I stand here today redeemed. Not only by the blood of the Lamb, but by His overwhelming love. I've failed God over and over in showing, sharing, and living his love (see "Five Minutes with Violet"). However, here is love vast as the ocean, that has kissed this guilty sinner in love. So as I'm hit with this love that is higher, wider, deeper, and truer than any other love, I'm propelled to pick myself up, dust off my knees, and share that same lovingkindness!

Thanks be to God.