Unconditional love

God’s love for us is unconditional. It does not depend on anything we do, make, achieve, achieve. All of these things happen because they are gifts of God’s love for us. But they are temporary. They can change, evolve, weaken, dissolve or even disappear over the course of our lives. Nonetheless, God’s love for us is unchangeable. No matter what changes take place in our lives, God is still there loving us with an love that is greater than anything we can fathom. We cannot wrap our minds around the height, breadth, length or size of God’s love.

And as long as we keep this reality of God’s love before us, especially in prayer, we can also rest in a happiness which does not depend on the circumstances of our lives. Often people who live in the most dire of circumstances have a gentleness and peace about them which it unattainable for those who are obsessed with climbing the ladder of success. “What happens,” it has been asked, “when you find out that the ladder you were climbing was up against the wrong wall?”

Many parents love unconditionally, but it is also true that many parents are not able to do so, and love conditionally. What happens in such a situation is that a child learns right from the beginning that it is necessary to earn love by conforming to another’s set of requirements and standards, and this misunderstanding exerts its power over one’s life in every aspect of life. This is something that has to be healed in so many these days.

Just remember that God’s love does not have to be earned. It is there. It is available to us at all times, even when we fail bitterly, even when we are lost in sin, even when we have made a total mess of our lives. It is precisely in this that God proves his love for us: that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Rom 5:8)

In your prayer, rest in that love. When things go wrong, rest in that love. When you fail, rest in that love. When calamity befalls you, rest in that love. And look around you for signs of that love. There are so many. This morning I spent some time admiring a birch tree which stands tall in our cloister garden. It spoke to me of God’s love for me, God who placed that tree in my world so that I could admire it.

Look for God’s love that already exists in your life.

God bless you.