How Great a Love

For great is your love, higher than the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the skies.  Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, and let your glory be over all the earth.”  Psalm 108:  4 – 5

For most of us, the Christmas festivities are over – even if we aren’t quite ready to let the season go. I hope yours was everything you hoped it would be and that it brought you much joy. I wonder how we’ll remember Christmas 2014 and what memories our children and grandchildren will share with each other years from now.

As Bob and I rode home from spending Christmas Day with Kelly and her family last night, we talked about all the Christmases we have shared through the years (42 in marriage and 3 while dating) and so many memories came to mind. We laughed as we remembered a story that the other had forgotten and some even brought a few tears – for me, at least – especially about those years when Kelly and Scott were young, and even now, the ones when Miles and Cole were small. How quickly the years pass by.

We talked about how most of our memories of all those Christmases were happy ones, although some were so busy and stressful that they seemed to have passed by in a blur. And then, of course, like we all have, we remembered those that brought sadness as we felt the absence of a loved one we had lost. But most of all, we felt so blessed to be able to say that each one has brought sweet memories and was filled with the love of family and good friends. It was the people in our lives that made each Christmas memorable – not the gifts or the decorations or the number of special things we did to celebrate. It was the presence of their love and laughter that brought us joy.

But we realized even more, that our greatest gift of these many Christmases that we have spent together has been the knowledge that we know this Savior whose birth we celebrate. From the church services to the Christmas plays to the caroling to the candlelight services to the hearing of the manger story through the years, Jesus Christ has been our reason for celebration. And through His presence and love, we have felt an even greater peace and joy.

How grateful we are to God for His great love, a love that flows through us to others. A love that is revealed throughout Scripture. For no matter what book or chapter we turn to, it is as if He is sending His love from His heart to ours. But nowhere do we find it expressed more than when He sent His Son to be born on earth.

In this beautiful verse from Psalm 108, David reminds us of how grateful we should be for God’s goodness and faithfulness to us and how we should exalt His most holy name. How great His love is. “A love higher than the heavens and a faithfulness that reaches to the skies.”

Prayer

Dear Lord, thank you for this Christmas season and for the time we have had with those we hold dear. Your love and goodness to us blesses us beyond anything we could ever imagine for ourselves. May we honor you by showing the world the joy and happiness that is in our hearts because of you.We exalt your most holy name above all others and give you all praise and glory. Amen