Love Like No Other

Every day I am astounded at how profoundly I love my little boy. I have no frame of reference for the love a mother feels for her biological offspring, but I would challenge anyone who thinks that my love is any less or different simply because Joshua is not mine by birth. Sometimes when I look at him I am simply overcome by this gift that was given to us by a brave young lady. And echoing through my mind I hear 1 John 3:1 "Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God." (Though, of course, I hear it sung a la Psalty, because that is how I learned it.)

Following that, I very often think of Ephesians 1:4-8 "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight. In love ⁵he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— ⁶to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. ⁷In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace ⁸that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding."

Because, while I would say that adoption is just now something that I am experiencing first hand, in reality I myself have been adopted. And I've known that, intellectually, for many years. I've read the verses and thought to myself, "Yep. We're adopted through Christ." and that is where it has ended, without any thought to what that truly means. I suspect because I had no frame of reference for the love a parent feels for their adopted child.

So very often as I rock Josh and think of these verses I gain a little more insight into the vast depth of love God has for us. I realize I'm not doing a very good job of putting my thoughts into words, but I'm not sure much more needs to be said other than this:

"Behold what manner of love the Father has given unto us that we should be called the sons of God."