Stevie Wonder's song Isn't She Lovely celebrates the gift of his newborn daughter. The joy of the song comes out of life born out of the action and communion of love. Love through connection.
That's what we believe about God, too. Wherever God is, whatever God is, God is with you. God is with us. That's an astounding tenet of our faith. John Wesley said that it was the best of all things on his deathbed. Our faith proclaims a God who is relational, communal and present. That shows us what love truly is.
Often, we reduce love to a feeling. Culture depicts love as mostly emotion. But scripture pushes us deeper. Love isn't less than feeling, but it is so, so much more. Love is connection.
And God is that connection. In the Trinity, for example, we glimpse a God who is love through eternal relationship. That God is willing to connect with us is the greatest signpost to love. God is not distant. God is here, connected to and woven into our lives.
The psalmist of Psalm 139 seemed to understand this. The Lord doesn't know him as a faraway thought. God discerns his thoughts "from far away," but does not love him from afar. No, the Lord is so close as to be able to search him and know his ways and his thoughts. A distant God cannot hem a life together.
God does not switch on and off because love does not do that. Love does not switch on and off because God does not do that. Love is personal, attentive and active. And because we have known and experienced this great love, we respond in at least two ways. The first is, like the psalmist, to stand in awe. Isn't God lovely! The second is to join this loving connection. Join it with God and let your life be just as connected to others in love.
Stay blessed...john | 
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