Extravagant love

I have a dog (well, more than one), who follows me no matter what I'm doing. She goes to bed when I go to bed, and I can't sneak past her in the morning. She walks when I walk, sits with me in the recliner. She is love, dogified.

Last year I learned I was an introvert. I had always thought myself, uh, shy, cautious to make new acquaintances, etc. I wasn't into the introvert/extrovert thing at all. But I learned it is hard for me to talk to someone one-on-one till I get to know that person. No problem on 50, but one? I'm cautious, reserved, withholding of my love. Whew.

The thought process leads me to this statement: God is amazing. His love is awesome. His ways are beyond  our thought process.

The scriptures tell us: "Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant."

Get that? His love is not cautious, but extravagant. He could hold back and wait till things are going well in our lives, but he chooses to love extravagantly anyway. There is nothing like it. Nothing. There is nothing we can do to make God love us less (or more by the way).

Rick Warren says of this: "Knowing that God still love you, no matter what happens -- your failures, your brokenness, your sin -- provides a rock-solid foundation in your life. God loves you with an extravagant, lavish love that can never be taken away. It's beyond comprehension. He loves you on your good days and your bad days. He loves you when it's raining, and when the sun is shining."

Love that is lavish.
Love that is extravagant.
Love that is awesome and the opposite of cautious.
Love that is unconditional.

He gives love because He is love. He grants and releases and puts forth a sheet of love that is beyond imagination and creativity. He so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son. He so loves Billy because he gives; He so loves you, and you, and you and ....

We say we understand those things. We do not. 

Try it this way: Love that loves no matter what happens only in dogs and God.