Eagerness beamed on my students’ faces as I walked around the classroom. Pencils moved passionately across their writing journals as they poured out whatever they wanted for “Freewrite Friday.” My eyes caught glimpses of what they cherished doing over the weekend, who their best friend was and why, and a student concocting a persuasive argument to me to treat them to ice cream one day. The timer went off, pencils dropped, and voices rose as they shared their entry with a friend. As I circulated the room, some would stop me and ask, “Ms.Whisman, can I read you what I wrote?”, or “Ms. Whisman, look what I did!”, and “Ms. Whisman, I wrote about…” Their energy was contagious .
These students are no strangers to me. Normally, around this time of the school year, I am still trying to get to know my students, but this year is different. I moved up grade levels with them. Those who were once my 2nd graders are now my 3rd graders. I know them, and they know me. The beginning of the school year has felt different because of this. We had summer break, but it seems like no time had passed. Watching them become enthralled with their writing and witnessing them grow over more than a year has been enriching. All the planting, tilling, and weedpicking I did last year is slowly revealing a harvest. The Lord has been gracious, and my affection for these nuggets has only deepened. What greater love it seems now compared to last year.
It is mind-boggling to reflect on how the Lord has crafted us with the capacity to grow in our love for others. We see this in our relationships with friends, family, marriage, and with our love for the Lord. Yet, we are not like God in this way. God’s love for His own today strikes just as piercingly: “even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world” (Ep.1:5). A fierce, fatherly love that never dims. Our understanding is dim now, but He does not grow in understanding. Situations, trials, complacency, sin, and indifference can cloud our love but never the Lord’s. He knows everything completely and fully: the ends of all the what-ifs, and everything about you. His affections do not grow toward us, as mine do toward my students. He does not love me any less or any more each day, but the same every day. My love wanes, His never. His love is potent, steadfast, faithful, true, and a haven of rest is in this realization. His love is all-encompassing, and the more we tune our hearts to rest in who He is, the more our affections will grow until we are completely satisfied when we see Him face ot face.
Leave a comment