Overwhelmed

The word "overwhelmed" tends to carry with it a negative connotation. Overwhelmed with work, activities, emotions, stress, life... And I have certainly felt the negative context of this word before. But I think the positive is much better.

Tonight I am feeling overwhelmed with love.

I always feed Eli at 10:30pm before I go to bed, just so he can get a few extra calories. I love these times with him, because he is deep in sleep, cozy and warm snuggled against me. After I feed him I just rock him for a long time, because I find it so hard to put him down. I pray for him and praise God for him, and I am again and again overwhelmed with love.

Do you ever just look at your child and well up with tears? Does the way they smile, the sound of their laugh, a new milestone, the feel of their soft skin just cause you to melt? Do you hold your sleeping little one for long into the night, just because you can't bear to put them down? Do you delight in seeing all the ways they grow and change, all the new things they learn?

Oh, what a joy it is to experience this kind of love, this all-consuming, overwhelming love for a child. What a humbling blessing to experience it.

Tonight as I was rocking Eli and talking to the Lord, He reminded me that He feels the same about me, only much, much more. What?!? How can that be? How can the God of the universe take that much delight in me? Why would He want to hold me, to listen to me, to spend time with me, to watch me learn and grow? I certainly don't deserve even a glimmer of His kindness, but by His grace, the blood of Jesus Christ allows me to experience this kind of overwhelming love.

Can you picture it in your mind? A mother holds her child, singing over him with joy and love. And a Father holds them both, singing all the more.

I am overwhelmed.

Remember today, friends, how deeply, overwhelmingly loved you are by the Lord.

"The Lord your God is with you, He is mighty to save. He will exult over you with joy, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)