God’s Lavish Love

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!”

1 John 3:1

Jon David was my early bird, and I was very much not.

Every morning, without fail, he would burst into my room with rapid-fire requests: “Mom, I’m hungry! Mom, I’m thirsty! Mom, read me a book!”

Most mornings, I barely cracked my eyes open before mumbling something like, “Give me five more minutes, buddy.”

But one morning, he woke me up in a way I will never forget. Instead of his usual boisterous entrance, he stood quietly by my bed. He brushed my arm, and in the softest voice, he said, “I love you, sweet angel. You are a gift from heaven.”

Then he kissed my cheek and whispered it again!

I opened my eyes to see his face beaming at me, and my heart melted on the spot. I barely had time to gather my thoughts before he skipped off, leaving me lying there, stunned by the purity of that moment.

Later that day, as I drove home after dropping him off at kindergarten, I could not stop thinking about it. Then it hit me—he had repeated my words. The ones I had whispered to him night after night. The ones I had spoken over him when he was scared, when he was sleepy, and when I just wanted him to know how deeply he was loved.

Somehow, those words had settled into his heart. And now, without being asked, he had given them back to me.

And that is exactly how God loves us. He does not just hand it to us in small, measured doses. He pours it over us—like an unstoppable waterfall with waves that never stop crashing onto the shore. He delights in us, treasures us, whispers over us, “I love you, sweet angel. You are a gift from heaven.”

I don’t know what your morning looked like today, friend. Maybe it was chaos. Maybe it was loneliness. But I do know this: you are deeply and lavishly loved. And do you know what the most beautiful thing you can do with that kind of love is?

Let it pour back out.