My second child was born prematurely. He weighed slightly more than three pounds when he was born. He had to remain in hospital several weeks after his birth. Each day I travelled back and forth to feed him and bond with him. Although I wasn’t permitted to remove him from the incubator I was able to touch him through the holes. Tubes wound themselves in, out and around his body. I worried that we’d miss that important bonding time; once I brought him home we connected in a way that I could never have imagined.
In fact, we connected on such a deep level that I would awaken seconds before he did during those many times that he was very ill. I felt that we were so united that it felt as if we were one – as if somehow he still lived inside my body. That is my understanding of abiding love - knowing someone so intimately that you can sense what they feel – you hurt when they hurt and you feel joy when they feel joy.
When I gave my heart to the Lord, it was then that I understood that there was still an even deeper longing in my heart to be loved in that way, an insatiable longing that could never be satisfied by another human being.
He satisfies these yearnings, yet as He satisfies me I hunger still for more. I rather fancy knowing that I’m always wanting more – because He just keeps on giving. I want, between Him and me, that same connection that He shared with the Father. I need it and I adore Him for creating in me an absolute necessity to live in spiritual union – communion – with the One I most adore – just like He does with the One He most adores.
“As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.” John 15:9-13.
