I drove to have coffee with a friend a few days ago. Snow was still on the ground from several days before, but this day was warm and drizzly. I passed through a few thick patches of fog on my way through the hills. I was struck by all the phases of water I was seeing at the same time through the windshield: solid snow banks and icicles clinging to the side of rocky cliffs, banks of fog barely pierced by my headlights, and wet drizzle pelting the windows.
I took another route home that afternoon, and had to make a u-turn to capture this scene to share with you!
The lake was still covered in ice, although warmer temperatures had begun to soften it. Low-lying fog across the water almost hid the trees standing on the opposite shore from view. While it isn’t a typical December picture, the monochromatic greyscape was stunning!
Forms of Water
We all know that water exists as solid, liquid, and gas, but how often are we aware of it? In our minds, it’s all different. Ice for my soda is not the same as ice on the road, but ice is ice: frozen water.
Water for my pasta is not the same as water flowing down a waterfall (nor as beautiful), but water is water: liquid water.
Steam from my tea kettle is not the same as wispy clouds high above or fog across the road, but vapor is vapor: evaporated water.
I could be in my kitchen making iced tea with boiling water, watching the steam rise from the kettle, and not notice that I’m in the presence of water in all three states. I pay no mind because I just want some iced tea.
But I couldn’t miss it as I drove down the road through a rainy, foggy, snowy landscape! And suddenly I was reminded how we can simultaneously experience many forms of love.
Forms of Love
God’s love, that is.
Were you ever stopped in your tracks by the realization that you are loved by the Creator of the universe?
“No need to get dramatic now, it’s not that believable,” you may say. Or perhaps, “Yeah, I’ve heard it all before. No big deal.”
Stick with me here. I happen to be one of those people who believe that nothing we see or feel or touch or taste simply happened itself into existence. Every thing was created and required a creator, whether that creator was human or divine.
For example, here’s a short list of things I can see from my writing chair. Not one *poofed* out of nothing.
| Hourglass | Sewing cabinet | Bookshelf | Framed art |
| Lamp | Laundry basket | Dresser | Curtains |
| Philodendron | Dog | Woodpile | Fallen leaves |
| Trees | Grass | Shrubs | Family pictures |
I simply cannot look at a single blade of grass and believe that it evolved from a single-celled organism billions of years ago. It’s too detailed and intricate!
My favorite example of this intricacy is the eyeball. How on earth could all of the different types of cells in the eye evolve to work together to accomplish the gift of sight? Color sensors, light sensors, muscles to control pupil size, and more, all working in tandem.
That alone is a miracle, and then you consider the eye’s place within a body and the miracle grows exponentially! Tears, nerves to the brain, protective bones and eyelashes, external muscles for movement, and more! What a symphony of movement!
It takes more faith to believe all that happened by chance than believing someone created it.
In the New Testament of the Bible, James wrote, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17 NIV).
“Every good gift” covers a lot of ground. Sight, objects (like water in its various forms), people, relationships, emotions, sounds, tastes, ideas, and more, all gifts expressing God’s love for us.
But wait, there’s more!
This month we celebrate Christmas, when Jesus was born in Bethlehem. The Son of God left heaven’s perfection to be born as a defenseless baby.
The One who sustains all things with merely a word (Hebrews 1:3) came to be sustained by mere humans. What a shock that must have been!
“He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him” (John 1:10).
Why would He make such a sacrifice? Out of love for those He created: you and me.
I spent many years trying to be good enough to please God, but that all changed when I realized how much He loved me in spite of my failures and flaws. Now I live out of love for Him in return, and it’s so much better! “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
As we walk through this Christmas season, I pray you become aware of his love for you. It’s greater than you could ever imagine!
If you’ve got a few minutes, start making a list of all the ways God has expressed and continues to express his love to you. The forms of his love are infinite, so I hope you’ve got a lot of space to write!
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:38-39
Lauri Hawley 