Big question from a small child

Originally posted December 8, 2011, at I’m into Grace. Republished with permission of the author.

“Mommy, does love ever end?”

This is the question my sweet 6-year-old asked me last night as we were sitting on the sofa spending “normal” time together.

I don’t know where it came from, but if I had to guess, she was feeling the same way I was feeling at that moment. You know, that feeling where if you had to pick a place on the planet to be and it could be absolutely anywhere, you would pick exactly where you are?

I was sitting there thinking, “I love this child so much.” I’m assuming she was feeling that same perfect peace and transcendent love when she asked the question.

I said to her, “No, sweetie, love never ends.” Of course she had a response to this: “Yes, it does, mommy. It ends when we die.” Big mistake to say that to a pastor-mommy.

But I dialed it back a bit from the 15-minute sermon. I said to her, “My daddy died, and I still love him. So love doesn’t end when we die.”

She also had a response to this: “Yes, it does. It ends when we all die. You know, when no one is left on the earth.” She’s a philosopher, that one!

A love that never ends

Of course, you know what I told her. It’s that love that never ends that we are celebrating in this season.

It’s the kind of love that comes beautifully and purely wrapped in his mother’s arms.

It’s the kind of love that catches us by surprise and makes us wonder at a God who would be so bold and yet so subtle to sneak up on us in the vulnerability of a baby.

It’s the kind of love that when there was no other way to get the point across, God sent it straight from heaven to earth. Yep, it’s the kind of love that brings heaven to earth that we celebrate. But that’s not where it ends.

Because love is a story that never ends.

Love lives and dies and rises and lives forever. The beginning of the story is that love comes down to earth. The end of the story is that love never ends. Not when you die. Not when I die. Not when all the people on earth die.

No, my sweet girl, love never ends. Because God is love.

Find a link to Kris Capel’s blog I’m into Grace at Lutheran Blogs.

You might also want to read:
What is love?
Sharing unconditional love
Love comes down