No Strings Attached

Two year olds are well known for their outbursts and tantrums, but they're also among the most loving little creatures on the face of the planet (besides puppies and kittens, of course). Recently, my husband and I experienced a hilarious and heartwarming scenario involving one of these precious "terrible twos."

During a Christmas concert at a local university, a cherub-faced two-year-old girl decided that the stranger sitting in the row in front of her needed some love. In a spontaneous moment of unspeakable joy, she leaned up, grabbed the man around the neck with both of her chubby arms, and pressed her face against his. For at least 20 seconds. Maybe that doesn't sound like a long time, but count slowly to 20 and imagine yourself as the recipient of this hug. It will either bring a smile or a grimace to your face. Either way, this 20 second bear hug was one of the sweetest expressions of pure, innocent love I've seen in a very long time.

That hug got me thinking. What if I treated strangers in the same way? I'd probably be locked up for a very long time. But metaphorically speaking... what if I treated those I meet every day with the same enthusiastic, no-strings-attached love? What if every Christian did the same? Needless to say, the world would be a very different place. "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35

Father, help me to love others this Christmas season, not with strings attached, but with the same love You show to Your children. Thank you for the most indescribable gift of all time -- Your amazing love, wrapped in swaddling clothes, sent to a world in desperate need of You.