The love my Callie has for our dogs is a beautiful thing!

She was showering Gracie, our hyper Border Collie, with some much needed attention this evening. (Gracie always needs attention.)

I overheard her tell Gracie “I love you just the way you are!” And she repeatedly called her Gracie girl & told her what a good girl she was.

As I watched & listened to her I couldn’t help but think of what a pure love exists between a child & her dog.

How blessed we all would be to have someone love us, just the way we are, the way Callie loves Gracie girl!

Ya know what?

We do have someone who loves us just the way we are.

Not our spouses.

Not our parents.

Not even our kids.

All of those relationships have huge amounts of love attached to them.

But no one loves us unconditionally, warts & all, like Jesus does.

I’m preaching to myself here.

I’ve loved Jesus since I was 14 years old.

I’ve made my share of mistakes, but Jesus & me, we’ve been together now for over 20 years.

And I still don’t think I grasp the depth of His love for me.

I can tell YOU about His love all day long.

Somewhere along the line I sometimes forget how much He adores me.

I was not nice to one of my kids this morning.

It’s Sunday, remember?

If it can go wrong it’s gonna go wrong on a Sunday morning.

I apologized & made up & asked the Lord to forgive me.

But it stayed with me.

I felt like a fraud in church.

I really had to work through these feelings all through service.

And then tonight, the Lord spoke to me as Callie was speaking to Gracie.

See the way Callie adores Gracie? Hear her say she loves her just the way she is?

I love you more than Callie loves Gracie.

I see you, mistakes and all, through grace filled eyes.

Nothing you can do will separate us.

Maybe I’m the only one who needed to hear this message tonight.

But just in case I’m not alone, just know that God loves you more than Callie loves Gracie.

You are so loved.