I’ve been really busy for the last few weeks, visiting my family in Pennsylvania, doing construction work, and speaking to various groups. I miss my wife and daughter so much and I look forward to returning home to Brazil. Yet I’ve also really enjoyed meeting so many friends in the US, some of whom I’d only known through Facebook until now.

In the little time to relax that I’ve had, I’ve been doing some reading. Right now I’m enjoying Mountains of Spices by Hannah Hurnard, the sequel to the classic Hind’s Feet On High Places.” I also read some of my mom’s poetry and I asked her if she’d like to share this piece today.

Scripture says “Keep yourself in God’s love.” This admonition doesn’t imply that God ever stops loving us, or that God only loves us when we behave well. Rather, it reminds us to keep ourselves in a constant awareness of God’s love. Receiving God’s love for us produces the fruit of God’s love flowing through us. We love because God first loved us. This poem is a great reminder of God’s steadfast love, faithfulness, and patience.

What Kind Of Love (By Arnolda Brenneman)

What kind of love is this?

That He gives us His name …

To heal the sick,

Comfort the troubled,

Give hope to the hopeless,

And we use it as a curse word.

That He calls us but we don’t listen;

He draws us but we resist Him;

That He tells us the truth,

Yet we don’t believe it;

And opens wide His arms,

But we don’t come.

That He created the universe,

But we don’t give Him credit

For His own art; saying

That it randomly evolved.

Yet He esteems us, telling

Us we are worth His while.

We fail Him again and again,

But He doesn’t give up on us;

We grieve His heart but

He continues to forgive us.

We don’t give Him the time of day,

While He patiently waits for us.

Though we be stricken

With our own wrongs,

He does not condemn us;

And though we may reject Him,

He does not reject us;

Nor does His heart grow cold.

Though we are faithless,

He stays committed to us.

Though stuck in our sin,

And or lost in our way;

He’s there for us night and day

And His love does not grow dim. …

Oh my, what kind of love is this?

Arnolda Brenneman © 2014

If you liked this post, you may also enjoy the poem In My Garden.

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