Little Nutbrown Hare

My son is just about 9 months old and we try to read with him on a fairly regular basis. One of his favorite books right now (so far as I can tell) is entitled, Guess How Much I Love You by Sam McBratney with illustration by Anita Jeram. The book is about two nutbrown hares--Little Nutbrown Hare and Big Nutbrown Hare--who both try to express their love for one another. The book starts with Little Nutbrown Hare stretching out her little arms as far as they can go to indicate how much she loves Big Nutbrown Hare. Big Nutbrown Hare responds by extending her arms out as far as they can go, which is quite a bit further, and then pronouncing, "But I love you this much." Back and forth they go comparing how much love they have for one another with Big Nutbrown Hare always coming out on top. The book ends with Little Nutbrown Hare looking up at the sky and proclaiming, "I love you right up to the moon"--to which Big Nutbrown Hare replies, "I love you right up to the moon--and back."

Sometimes God communicates his love to us in rather unexpected ways. Earlier this week I was spending time resting in God's presence and this book came to mind. Then I sensed God asking me the question on the front of the book: Guess how much I love you, Mac? I started to think about all the ways I had encountered or witnessed God's love in my life over the past few days. One encounter stood out above the rest. Some of our really good friends recently had a baby--which is incredibly exciting! The other night we stopped by their house to drop off some stuff and see if we could help out in any way. We stayed for about 15 minutes and during our entire visit my friend held his new daughter in his arms, grinning ear to ear, with tears in his eyes. You could just sense his love for her. As I was thinking about that visit and witnessing the love a father has for a newborn child, I sensed God saying "I love you even more than that! You make me beam ear to ear! And when I think about you, tears of joy form in my eyes!"

Can you imagine God loving you more perfectly than a proud father holding his newborn baby? I think God is constantly asking us the question: Guess How Much I Love You? And He is constantly trying to show us the answer to that question through everyday scenarios and circumstances that demonstrate his love for us. And if you ever lose sight of God's love for you, if it ever seems out of reach, or has just grown stale, remember that Jesus stretched out his arms on the cross of Calvary and proclaimed, "This is how much I love you!"