Love Wrapped Around Like a Shirt.

1 John 4:9-11 (NIV)

9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Growing up one of the things I remember about vacation was that mom would spend weeks before getting ready to leave.  By getting ready I mean she would sew each days outfits. Yes each and every day we would match as the 5 of us traveled across the great USA. As I read this story it reminded me of this great memory.

"Do you like my dress?" She asked of a passing stranger. "My mommy made it just for me." She said with a tear in her eye.

"Well, I think it's very pretty, so tell me little one, why are you crying?"

With a quiver in her voice the little girl answered.

"After Mommy made me this dress, she had to go away."

"Well, now," said the lady, "with a little girl like you waiting for her, I'm sure she'll be right back."

"No ma'am, you don't understand," said the child through her tears, "my Daddy said that she's up in heaven now with Grandfather."

Finally the woman realized what the child meant, and why she was crying. Kneeling down she gently cradled the child in her arms and together they cried for the mommy that was gone. Then suddenly the little girl did something that the woman thought was a bit strange. She stopped crying, stepped back from the woman and began to sing. She sang so softly that it was almost a whisper. It was the sweetest sound the woman had ever heard, almost like the song of a very small bird. After the child stopped singing she explained to the lady,

"My mommy used to sing that song to me before she went away, and she made me promise to sing it whenever I started crying and it would make me stop." "See," she exclaimed, "it did, and now my eyes are dry!"

As the woman turned to go, the little girl grabbed her sleeve,

"Lady, can you stay just a minute? I want to show you something."

"Of course," she answered, "what do you want me to see?"

Pointing to a spot on her dress, she said,

"Right here is where my Mommy kissed my dress, and here,"

pointing to another spot,

"and here is another kiss, and here, and here," "Mommy said that she put all those kisses on my dress so that I would have her kisses for every boo-boo that made me cry."

Then the lady realized that she wasn't just looking at a dress, no, she was looking at a Mother who knew that she was going away and would not be there to kiss away the hurts that she knew her daughter would get. So she took all the love she had for her beautiful little girl and put them into this dress that her child now so proudly wore. She no longer saw a little girl in a simple dress, she saw a child wrapped in her Mother's love.

What a great example of God’s love. He wraps each of us in His love to protect and guide us. Take the time today to share that love.

Dear Lord, thank You that You wrap us in Your great love. Help us share that love today by wrapping our arms around someone today. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.