He Said IT First

Madison was about two weeks old when I heard Tom talking to her through the monitor. He had no clue I was listening and maybe I shouldn’t have been. “I’ve never loved anything like I love you, little girl,” he told our daughter.

He had said - out loud- what my mind had been thinking since the very moment I laid eyes on her. This love for her; It was the most intense emotion I had ever felt. Becoming her mother had unlocked this plethora of foreign emotions, but more than anything, a heart-aching, deep love that I had no idea existed.

When I became pregnant shortly after Madison’s first birthday, I was excited to add to our family and scared to death that I wouldn’t be able to love the second child with the same intensity as I loved our first. As the pregnancy progressed I begged God, “Please help me love this baby!”

And sure enough, my heart nearly exploded the second Matthew was born and they put him in my arms. From that moment on, I couldn’t imagine life without him.

I could repeat every cliche you’ve ever read or heard about motherhood. For the most part, they are all true. Even after 22 years, it remains the most difficult, most rewarding, most humbling and most frightening thing I do.

It has taught (and continues to teach me) so much about life and love, especially God’s love. It must be this all-encompassing love that God feels for us, his children. What else could motivate him to bring heaven to us? What else could compel him to sacrifice the intimate relationship with his son, Jesus, to bridge the gap between our sin and himself - once and for all? Why else would he want us to inherit an eternity in his presence where there will be no more death, sorrow or injustice?

Madison and Matthew did nothing to make me love them. Nothing. And yet from the moment they took their first breaths, I have loved them so much I would do anything for them.

I think God loves us like this, except better - far better. Even when we don’t feel it. Even when we don’t see it. His love is steadfast, never-changing, always abounding and always given to us freely.

Can you hear Him whispering, “I have never loved anything like I love you?” And can you believe him?