November has been incredible so far in Nashville. The nights have been cold, but the days have just been beautiful. After a rain soaked October, the sun has been a welcome relief. Last Thursday I was over at friends house working on my final book edits and decided to go sit outside because it was so beautiful. They have rocking chairs on their back porch and that side of the house faces the sun and I just wanted to enjoy the amazing day. I sat down in the rocker, got a pillow situated to my back and in a few minutes, my friend saddled up beside me with this soft cushy rocker from the front porch. It had a padded seat and a padded back and was so much more comfortable than what I was sitting in.
I didn’t ask for another chair. I didn’t ask for a more comfortable place to sit. I was perfectly happy with what I had. Sure, it wasn’t the softest place to land, but my face was in the sun and the day was beautiful and it felt like enough. But it wasn’t enough to my friend. They wanted me to have more. They wanted it to be perfect.
That night I was thinking about the day and about how so much of what happens in our lives are to reveal our Father’s love to us. And I realized that He had revealed His love to me that day through my friend. I realized how often I will settle for so much less than what He really has for me. Sometimes because I don’t ask. Sometimes because I get to a place of contentment. Other times because it feels as if it will be too extreme, to high-maintenance. But I realized He desires for us to have more than just His hem.
Remember the woman in the Bible with the “flow of blood.” For twelve years this woman didn’t stop bleeding and on top of that she used all her money to try to get herself well. And finally Jesus comes to town and she makes the decision, whether because of faith or desperation that He can heal her. And when she reaches out she grabs his hem. And I believe she would have left that day, whole but with just His hem. But He wouldn’t let her. He asked, “Who touched me.” It mattered to Him. And He wanted her to know that He had seen her faith.
So many times we settle for hard rockers, when he has cushioned loungers. We settle for just a piece of Him, when He desires to give us all of Him. And each day, He shows us His love through the actions of others. May we not miss the God moments of any given day. Whether He is lavishing us with His love, or calling out of us what is on the inside of us. I’m not sure if that woman would have ever realized the extent of her own faith had Jesus not stopped her that day. And maybe we don’t realize the extent of ours. But Jesus doesn’t want us missing anything, not Him, nor what is on the inside of us.
May this be a week where we notice how He loves us. And may this be a week where we are able to realize how much we love Him.
