Measuring Love

I was six when my brother was born. One of my favorite memories of Jordan as a young child was the day he said to me, "I love you one hundred gallons."

My son Sam is now 5-1/2 and several times a day he will say, "Do you know how much I love you?", to which my inevitable reply is, "How much?" His answers range from "dozens and dozens" to "millions and billions and tons and tons" to the classic "to infinity and beyond" to the thought-provoking "as far away as Heaven and back." I also love that Brayden has somewhat copied this behavior and will say, "Mommy?" When I say, "Yes, Brayden?", he says, "I LOVE you!" with typical Brayden enthusiasm.

(Note: they say this to me even on "bad" days, which probably means that my bad days are not so bad.)

Love is one of those things that cannot me measured in human terms. My heart bursts every time he plays this game. How much love is THAT? So much, that's how much.

Sam is also getting old enough to start recognizing how much Jesus loves him. He has gone through a phase of being fascinated by Heaven, and his current fixation is Jesus' crucifixion. Down the last thorny detail. (As in, he informed me that he didn't think spitting on Jesus was acceptable behavior.) I encourage him to explore these difficult concepts and allow him to grow into his faith. Today when he was talking about this, we discussed John 3:16, or what I think of as a very strong love-centered verse. Oh, how blessed we are to know our Lord and be bathed in His love every day.

One thing Sam enjoys doing is singing songs (Brayden would rather dance or play the accompanying melody), and he will often change the words to songs about Emma. Sam and Emma remind me so much of Jordan and myself all those years ago. I can see the bond forming between them and it is heartwarming as a parent to watch their love.

Today I overheard him singing these words to his sister (while Brayden sat next to him playing his guitar):

"I know Emma is from Jesus
Yes, God sent her to us!
I don't want my body to die but
I want to know what Heaven looks like
Maybe nothing is there except God and Jesus
And that's ok because I know they're there
Thank you God for my baby sister!
I want to go to Heaven with Emma Jane"



Let me just say, I was in the bathroom with tears rolling down my face. If only more of us were capable of the pure love and pure trust that a child experiences!