I Love Mommy

My little two year old boy loves his mommy. He unashamedly loves her. As for me, the love is conditional. If he's in a good mood I might get an "I love you." But let that mood turn bad through tiredness or a host of other factors and he quickly becomes a lover of mommy only. This past Sunday he was riding with me to get our weekly Taco Bell lunch. He loves the ride as he gets to point out where all the fast food restaurants are located. That's scary in and of itself but thats not the focus of this post. As we were riding, I thought I'd test him.

"Hey little guy, do you love daddy?"

With that sweet smile he replied, "yeah, I love mommy."

"No, I asked if you love daddy?"

"Yeah, I love mommy."

This went on for several moments until I realized that I wasn't going to get a response concerning his love for me. Later that afternoon as I lay on the couch, I thought I'd try again.

"Do you love daddy?"

"I love mommy."

Again after several attempts I quit my pointless endeavor. However, before he walked away I had him look me in the eye for one moment and I told him something very simple. I told him I would love him even if he never loved me. Now granted, I comprehend that my little two year old doesn't have a full understanding of love. I even know that he does love me even though he swears undying allegiance to his mommy. Yet, I wanted him to know that my love would always be there whether his love was or not. Perhaps I said it more for myself as I look toward the future.

As I lay there watching him play I was quickly reminded of another father that chose to love even though his children refused to love him back. I was reminded that the Father loved us enough to allow his son to die in our place, even while we were living in open rebellion and hatred against Him. He loves for God is love. I can only speak for myself, but I'm grateful that the Father chose to continue to love me even through the times of my life where I didn't have love for Him. Only by His love was I brought back to a place of loving Him and experiencing His incredible love.