Inexhaustible Love

It’s been quite a week. I became a parent for the second time last Wednesday. And if I am honest with you, I wondered if I could possibly be filled with as much love, and awe, and joy, and amazement, and pride for the birth of this little one as I was for the birth of my first daughter. And I silently wondered if I would have the capacity to give the same kind of love and attention to my new daughter.

I was. And I am. I can’t wait for what will be!!!

And when my older daughter (now two and a half) held my younger daughter’s hand in hers, I felt a new sense of amazement: how was one hand SO tiny, and how had the other hand become SO big? (I held the bigger hand not more than a week ago, and I thought it was SO tiny!!!).

And I suppose I was and I still am overwhelmed by an extraordinary miracle: How is it that we can love one person SO fully, and then all a sudden, another person just as fully, and there is STILL plenty of love left over?!?

In this age of government shut-downs, and scheduling apps, and me-centered propaganda, we’ve been programmed to believe that all resources are finite. And we can be tricked into believing that love is an exhaustible commodity.

But here’s the truth: love is not finite. Love is regenerative. And love is life-giving. Love doesn’t run out, because you’re short on time, or money, or expertise. Love is birthed anew…in new daughters, in new seasons, in new friendships, in new conversations, in new acts of kindness, in new curiosities, in every new interaction.

In this Season of Epiphany (I know it’s really the season after, but it’s never too late for Epiphany!), may we open ourselves to the reality of an inexhaustible love. And may we be happily amazed at how love can fill us in ways that finite resources can’t. And then, may we go and love. Now. Like we aren’t afraid we’re gonna run out.