Welcome back to week two of our four-part Advent series. Last week we looked at HOPE through the eyes of those grieving this holiday season, and we learned how MUCH hope we have as we look forward to the Second Advent – Jesus’ victorious return to earth.

This week we’ll tackle the inexhaustible topic of LOVE. Is there any subject in the world that’s had more words written about it, and spoken in it, than love? How in the world can we fit that into the confined space of this blog post?  Only by offering up a select few nuggets!

I want to start off by acknowledging that any time we’re grieving the loss of someone dear to us, one of the things we miss most is their love. For me, personally, I miss Dale’s unconditional love. Unconditional, and so undeserved.  I could always trust in that through our decades together.

I recently saw a widow describing what was so hard for her after her husband’s death. “I’m not the most important person in anyone’s life anymore.” Yikes!  That’s true for me, too, but boy does that put a laser focus on what’s missing!

Regardless of whom you’ve lost through the years, we inherently know that we can never replace that person’s love. Just a fact of life in this fallen world.

So how can we grievers truly celebrate the notion of LOVE this holiday season when there are huge holes in our hearts?

Here is my broken record: By grieving that loss, fully appreciating the blessings we had, and by looking for ways to balance that emptiness with new avenues of love.

Some of these ways will be quite obvious. Do you still enjoy the love of other family members? Do you have cherished friends who still love you? Do you have a church family that upholds you with their love and prayers?  Like me, do you have beloved pets who think you are their world?

Take a moment to, mentally or physically, make a list of the people (or pets) or groups you can count on to love you through your heartache. I’m constantly doing this because I need that continual reminder that, despite all those I’ve lost who loved me, there is still much love coming my way.

True confessions – it still doesn’t feel like it’s enough. As much as I’m grateful for it, even the totality of it does not fill the void left by the loss of Dale’s love.

So, what to do with that? 

Let’s go back to the LOVE represented by this week’s Advent candle. This is not human, fallible, exhaustible love. This is the DIVINE LOVE of God who loved us enough to send Jesus into this world as a baby and ultimately to become the perfect sacrifice for our sins. This is the LOVE that paid the price and paved the way to heaven for any of us who put our faith in Jesus’ finished work on the cross.

This is a LOVE that can never fail us, that will never leave us, that will always be enough. A LOVE willing to make the ultimate sacrifice for us.

But we need to go deeper than just knowing these facts. Many of us learned this truth as toddlers back in our early Sunday School days. God is LOVE.

We must take that intentional step of immersing ourselves in this knowledge. It happens by seeking out scriptures that remind us again and again how much God loves us. Don’t just read them. Prayerfully ask God to let the truth of the text sink deep into your heart. It means sitting quietly and letting God speak to your soul.

There is an intentionality about this, and a consistent effort (yes, it’s work!), to truly feel God bringing a fuller understanding of his love to you.

I work at this ALL. THE. TIME!  Seriously, it doesn’t come naturally or easily. Satan doesn’t want us to comprehend the unfathomable love of God. He wants you to believe the lie that you will never feel loved again. That your heart will never heal at all. That there is no hope or true love left in your life.

Don’t let him win!  As it says in 1 Corinthians 13:13: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” It’s GOD’S love that remains. When all is said and done at the end of this life, THAT’S what we will have.  It is enough to fill every empty hole in our souls to overflowing.

So, take time this week to search out scriptures about God’s love for you. Pray that God would bless you with an ever-increasing understanding and gratitude for all that means for YOU. Here’s a list to get you started.

I’ll be praying for a renewed sense of God’s love for each of you this week.  Unconditional and so undeserved!

For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,

that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.

John 3:16