The phone rings at two in the morning and the voice on the other end excitedly announces ”Hi, Grandpa, it’s a girl.” We have never seen our new granddaughter since she was born thousands of miles from us, yet our feeling of love for this little girl is intense. She has never done anything to merit that love. We would do anything we could for her, yet she has never done anything for us except be born and she had nothing personally to do with that. As she grows older there will still be very little she can do to reciprocate the love that is showered upon her. At first just a little smile and a coo will express her love but this will be accepted by laving parents and grandparents as a great accomplishment. Later a hug or kiss and a garbled ”Wuv oo” will delight us. We love her because she was born into our family, she did not have to earn this love, we just love her.

We are reminded of Paul’s words concerning the Love of God for us when he said, ”God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” Yes, God so loved us that ”He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

We hope to be able to visit our little granddaughter often, but some grandparents who live many miles away never see their grandchildren. This certainly does not prevent them from loving them. As the little child grows and receives letters and presents from grandpa, if the parents teach their child about grandpa who lives far away yet loves them, then in time, the child grows to love the grandpa even though she has never seen him.

So it is with God. We have never seen our Father which is in Heaven. Yet we are reminded every day of His love for us by the things He has done. Paul tells us that ”God gives us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” In His love He has left us a handbook for life and if we read this every day we will grow to know Him better and love Him more. If we do not recognize that God’s gifts are truly from Him and if we ignore His letter then we will not love Him anymore than our granddaughter would love us if her parents just simply gave her the gifts we send without explaining they are from grandpa and never read her the letters we send. We would be a stranger to her and although we would still feel love for her, it would not be reciprocated.

Peter tells us that ”the Lord is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

Our Father in heaven really wants us to love Him. We are told that His angels rejoice when we do that which is right. We will be rejoicing each time we hear of the accomplishments of our little granddaughter. We will follow her activities with keen interest. David explains how our heavenly Father knows our downsitting and our uprising. He knows our path and our lying down, and He is acquainted with all our ways. David declares ”For there is not a word in my tongue, but, lo. 0 LORD, thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me.” David is so overwhelmed by this thought that he exclaims. ”Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain unto it.”

Of course, we will not be able to follow the activities of our little granddaughter like God does ours but our intense love for this little child helps us in a small way to understand our Father’s love for us.

Let us all remember the lessons Jesus taught us concerning parents and children and that if we know how to give good gifts to our children, ”how much more shall your father which is in heaven give good things to them that ask him?” ”Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”