“Do you listen to music when you write?”
someone asked me.
I do not.
“What about when you paint?”
No, not then either.
I am a musician myself, and it’s hard
for me to ever tune out music while doing something else. When I visit that big
craft store and they play all those instrumental hymns in the background, I’m
singing the words to the melodies in my heart. If I’m in an elevator, and I hear
a strictly instrumental piece I know, I’m anticipating the next measure. In the
car, if an instrumental song I don’t know plays on the radio, I’m tuned in to
the instruments, melodies, and rhythm. I love music, all kinds of music, and it
can hardly ever be background for me.
I tell you this to say that God
never tunes us out. When he listens to the prayers of a mountain climber in the
Himalayas of Nepal, he’s also listening to the cries of a construction worker in
Georgia. When we pray, we don’t become part of some background stream to God.
We’re front and center- every single one of us. Every single time.
Why?
Because He loves us. Love, love,
loves us.
In this season when we speak so
much of love, it’s good to know His love for us is incomparable and eternal.
There will be times when we’re grieving
or suffering other kinds of pain that we may not have the experience of God’s
love, but our feelings do not diminish the power of it.
“The Love of God” is a song attributed to nineteenth century Nazarene hymn writer, Frederick Lehman, but one verse may date to as far back as 1050-1096, when a Jewish rabbi composed it.
Lehman learned of it from an evangelist at a camp meeting. The evangelist had learned of it from words inscribed on an asylum wall, words perhaps long memorized that brought comfort to a patient just before his death. The story so moved Lehman,
he later wrote other verses.
“Could we with
ink the ocean fill,
And were the
skies of parchment made,
Were every
stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a
scribe by trade.
To write the
love of God above,
Would drain the
ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll
contain the whole
Though
stretched from sky to sky.”
That kind of love never tunes you out. You are heard. You are loved.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
"God is love . . ." (I John 4:16).
HERE for arecording of “The Love of God” recorded by Mercy Me.
Beverly Varnado is the author of several small town romances from Anaiah Press including her latest, A Season for Everything. All are available at Amazon. A memoir, Faith in the Fashion District, from Crosslink Publishing is also available. Also consider her other books, Give My Love to the Chestnut Trees and Home to Currahee. She also has an Etsy Shop, Beverly Varnado Art.
To explore the web version of One Ringing Bell, please visit bev-oneringingbell.blogspot.com
Beverly Varnado copyright 2022