Illogical Love

For the LORD takes pleasure in his people;

    he adorns the humble with salvation.

Psalm 149:4

The thing that always mystified me about God is the fact that He delights in us. For some reason, that has been the hardest thing for me to wrap my mind around. He didn’t just save us. He doesn’t just put up with us, or tolerate us despite our rebellion, flaws, disobedience, heck, our straight up annoying behaviors of worrying and doubt. No, He somehow genuinely loves us. Delights in us! Delight, like when you actually enjoy something, desire something, want something! Yes, I’m over-explaining a simple concept that you got the first time I said it, but are you understanding the full weight of this truth? Because it’s kind of insane!

I know that almost everything God does makes no sense by our worldly logic; but this one is my favorite. And today, I got to be a part of living into His kind of illogical love. Today, I, along with some of His other children, got to love on some kids in a way they weren’t expecting.

We showed up at the rec. center and started off our Tuesday afternoon like we always do, sitting next to students in a loud, slightly chaotic room, helping them with homework, reading books to/with them, and just listening to their stories. Then, when everyone was done their homework we each took a few of the students aside and read a few stories with them. Each unaware that those books were about to be given to them as gifts. We read them the book, asked them if they liked it, and then turned to the cover page where their name and a note was written. Most of them just stared at us in confusion as we handed them their brand new book. Smiles slowly began to form as they realized what had just happened. We let the excitement sink in and settle in, and then told them that we also had a present for each of them.

One girl just started laughing for joy, uncontrollably, for about two minutes, clutching her still-wrapped present. Others jumped up. Some screamed. One girl, who was in another room, and is usually pretty quiet, came running into the room I was in screaming and waving the new Rapunzel doll she just got. One of the girls in my group screamed, “You know me so well!!” as she unwrapped her’s.

The kid in me came out while I was shopping for these toys (toys have gotten pretty legit! since I was a 10 year old), but it was nothing compared to the pure joy that came from watching these kids with their toys. They would come up to me showing me what they got, and then go off telling me all about its awesomeness. Throughout my whole time there, there was this deep, inner, delight in me, as I saw these kids who have burrowed their way into my heart, smiling and laughing.  It was a delight to love these kids, even if there was nothing tangible they could give back to me.

They teach and show me so much. And God uses them to grow me in so many ways. So my relationship with them isn’t the same as mine is with God. God needs me a lot less than I need them (He doesn’t need me at all); but today His way of loving didn’t seem so illogical. Loving the way He loves, seemed like the best way there is to love. Delighting in someone else’s joy seemed as natural as any other daily task.

Linda, who oversees the children at the Rec. center, was blown away by today, too. She kept commenting on how nice this was, but also kept asking why we were doing this. To her, our actions were as confusing as God’s love is to me. It made no sense. But that’s the beauty of an unexpected surprise. And that’s part of the joy of living in and out of His great love. You get to experience a kind of love that doesn’t make sense, and find yourself consumed with joy by it. 

It shocks me, because it’s not what I would expect from a God. It overwhelms me, because I can’t believe that I mean this much to someone like Him. It’s a happy surprise, and I guess that’s why I love this aspect of Him so much.