Day 8 Focus: God’s gift of Love is exceedingly great.
Level 1: (5 Minutes) As you sit quietly today, let images of people you love come to mind. Think about the ways in which you let them know you love them, and the ways in which they love you. Contemplate how much God loves you and your loved one. What does it mean to know you are loved completely by God and by others?
Level 2: (10 minutes) Do Level 1. After Reading the scripture adaptation, take 5 minutes to discern what word or phrase catches your interest:
Adapted from Psalm 145. I extol You, my God and King. I bless Your name forever and ever. Every day I bless You and praise Your name forever and ever. Great are You, Lord, and highly to be praised. Your greatness is unsearchable…and I tell of Your greatness. You are gracious and merciful, slow to anger and great in loving kindness. You are good to all, and Your mercies are over all Your works. All Your works shall give thanks to You, Oh Lord…You sustain all who fall and raise up all who are bowed down. All eyes look to You…You are righteous in all Your ways and kind in all Your deeds. You are near to those who call upon You in truth. You fulfill the desire of those who revere You; You hear my cry and will save me. I know You keep me among those who love You…my mouth will speak praise to You to bless Your holy name forever and ever. Amen.
Level 3: (15 minutes) After pausing to breathe and reading the Scripture prayer, take 5 minutes to write down what you feel God is calling you to do.
Level 4: (30-60 minutes) My sister told me a wonderful story about her granddaughter. It seems that the family was growing quickly and as the grandchildren increased the granddaughter was concerned that her Grandmother was going to get worn out loving them all. The beauty in the story to me was not that the granddaughter was worried about her portion of love—it is rather that the granddaughter was worried her Grandmother might be burdened by having so many grandchildren to love. The wonderful thing about love is that it is not a burden. We each have an unlimited capacity to love. However, to appreciate this we will need to know that we are “lovable.” Rev. Peter Gomes said he always preached the same sermon—his theme was “Jesus Loves Me!” So will we celebrate first that God loves us, and second that we can choose to love if we accept God’s unlimited grace? Do we understand that real love is not a burden? Will we choose to love?