This week there are three little girls under the age of five visiting in my home.  Watching them, I’m amazed again at how much they are able to pour their love out without abandonment.  The girls live in another state; but they have visited my home enough that they have become friends with other children and several adults in my city. 

Not being their parent, primary caregiver, teacher or even a grandparent, I am freer to observe them and learn from their actions and reactions.  Here are a few things that have struck me over the course of this week.

1.  They don’t instinctively trust everyone.  Of course, this is a good thing because not everyone is trustworthy.

2.  Building their trust can take minutes, days or weeks.  The children take their ques from the people they trust already.  How quickly they give their love to  you depends on how much they sense their parents trust you.

3.  Each person is evaluated differently and shown love differently.

4.  Each child shows her love in unique ways.  Their own personality shapes how much she expresses her love.

5.  Once trust is built, love is given completely and without abandon. 

Love can heal almost any wound.  Love is the most powerful tool we have as Christians in winning the world to Jesus.  Often, we meet people how are hurt and torn.  Too frequently, their hearts have been ripped in a way that seems beyond repair.  I wonder, do others see love without abandon in me?  Are they able to search my live and find  that thing for which they yearn?  Love. 

My gut reaction is that I must show perfection when persenting myself to other people.  Yet, people aren’t looking for Mr. Perfect Person.  We are all looking for someone to love and who genuinely loves them.

Seeing the three girls cousins walking hand in hand, laughing, smiling and loving, pulls my heart to the beauty of why Christ died.  Yes, he came to forgive our sins.  But mostly he came to show all people that God loves us–wihtout abandonment.  He loves us enough to die to win our love.