An Unceasingly Grateful People

One of my all time favorite children's books is "Miss Nelson is Missing". This story is about an incredibly gentle and kind-hearted teacher named Miss Nelson whose students take her niceness and even-tempered nature for granted. Knowing that she is quick to forgive and patient with their shenanigans, they use every opportunity to cause trouble. After a particularly rough day with her students, Miss Nelson makes a plan to disguise herself the following day as the super strict, authoritative substitute teacher, Miss Viola Swamp. After several days with Viola Swamp and the demanding workload she gives out, the students recognize how good and fair Miss Nelson was and long for her to return. When she does, their behavior is changed as they gratefully respond to her goodness.

I think that when it comes to the characteristics of God the Father, we hear words like everlasting and enduring and forever, but rarely let them really sink in. In the words of Scripture, we hear time and time again of this eternal, never-ending love and mercy of God. Isaiah 54:8 says "With ENDURING love I take pity on you." And shortly after that in verse 10 we hear, "Though the mountains leave their place and the hills be shaken, my love shall NEVER leave you nor my covenant of peace be shaken." Jeremiah 31:3 says "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." In article 219 of the Catechism, we read that God's "love will be victorious over even the worst of our infidelities."

But the truth is that we rarely reflect on the reality that at any moment, he could choose to be otherwise. Because God is God, he COULD decide to forego his gentle, patient, and merciful nature to teach us a lesson. We could wake up tomorrow and God COULD decide that his unconditional love would be completely dependent on whether we are faithful or not. He COULD decide to stop providing us grace and leave us to work for our salvation without his aid. He COULD take from us all our blessings and gifts and abilities. He COULD take away our consolation in prayer, the power of his Spirit, and the gift of the Eucharist. God COULD choose all these things.

But he doesn't.

He has the ABILITY to choose these things, but does not have the desire to do so.

1 John 4:8 is the simplest, yet most profound definition of God. "God is love". He cannot be anything else. That is the way in which he wants us to describe him, encounter him, and believe in him. Love is the way in which he desires to speak to us, interact with us, and empower us. LOVE. Simple and faithful and eternal love.

But do we come before God each day fully acknowledging this reality? Or are we like Miss Nelson's kids, taking gentleness, kindness, and mercy for granted? Because God has revealed himself to us in these ways--as perpetually patient, relenting in punishment, and ever-merciful--do we see this as an opportunity to bank on his mercy and persist in our sinfulness? If we were to be honest, I think we could all conclude that so much of the time, our gratitude for the enduring love of the Father is small and unauthentic. Our response to the persistent pursuit of the Father is lukewarm worship. Our hearts are not adoring. Our faith is ever-fleeting. Our gratefulness is non-existent.

Let it not be so. May we not be a people who remain unaffected by the powerful love of the Lord. May we not be children who fail to express inexhaustible gratitude to our Father who lavishes us with gifts and goodness. Instead, let us be an unceasingly grateful people. Let us be thankful that his mercy is unending and that his love for us is not extended in proportion to our gratitude for it. And may our hearts be completely captivated and further convicted to serve this Lord who chooses to be forever faithful and chooses to love us--unceasingly, relentlessly, ETERNALLY.