Loving God

Hello, tender friends! Happy Monday from my little Boo Boo and me.

I’ve had a breakthrough in understanding the first commandment. You know, that one that says to love the Lord with all your heart.

This has never come easily to me. I know, I know, obeying the Lord’s commands is how we show we love him. But if I’m honest, I have always wanted more than that.

When I met my first Christian friend after college, I lamented to her, “I know we’re supposed to love God above all else, but I find that really hard because I can’t touch him. I really like having earthly humans to love.”

Every time I had a fun night out with my girlfriends or a great night with a boyfriend, I thought to myself, “I love these people,” and I could never manage to muster up the same sentiment for a God that I couldn’t see and touch and talk to face to face.

Of course, this feeling only intensified when I got married and had Jacob. I just found it hard to feel emotion that comes anywhere near to what I feel for them. I know that a lot of Christians say that we don’t operate based on feelings because feelings can be deceptive, but that explanation has just never cut it for me. I believe that God gave us emotions and created us to have an emotional response to him.

This is where things got interesting a few weeks ago.

Since sort of getting back in shape practicing yoga, I’ve been working on my breath a lot because it regulates the nervous system. And the past few weeks, devotion has stirred inside of me to the point that I have actually whispered, “Lord, I love you.” I have felt the feeling that matches my intellectual knowledge of Yahweh as king of the universe. I have understood at the cellular level why we will all bow and get our on our faces before the Lord in a way that I never did before. This is particularly significant because I’m not experiencing a personal high in life right now, which always makes it easier for me to feel loved by God and love him back.

I found this online to corroborate my experience:

“Scholars and rabbis say the letters “YHWH” represent breathing sounds or aspirated consonants. When pronounced without vowels, it sounds like breathing: YH (inhale), WH (exhale).A baby’s first cry, their first breath, speaks the name of God.A deep sigh, groan, or gasp calls His name, too heavy for mere words.Even atheists speak His name, unaware that the breath in their lungs acknowledges God.Likewise, a person leaves this earth with their last breath when God’s name no longer fills their lungs…”

What can I say? It feels good.

Ok, that’s all for today, tender friends! Thank you for stopping by and thank you for sharing!

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