Love Him in the Evening

A praise song from the 1970s says "Love Him in the morning when you see the sun arising, Love Him in the evening 'cause He took you through the day..." A friend sent me a book titled "Love Him in the Morning" by the song's composer John Fischer. This morning I was reading the section about evening. May I share a paragraph or two with you, and then I'll tell you why it grabbed my attention.

"God's faithfulness is especially welcome at the end of the day, when we are often beset by a good deal of regret. We typically ask more of a day than it can deliver, so it's rare that we end a day without coming up short on something.... The more difficult regrets are over the things that are hard to undo--things that harm us, others, and God, like regret over lapses in character, dysfunctional behavior, addictive sin, or getting caught in the rut of what we should be free of....

"Regret reduces us to unconditional love. Grace requires a certain helplessness. Suddenly I get it. I get that God's love is not because of anything in me or anything I've done or will do when I get my act together someday. Grace is being reduced to my lowest denominator and knowing I am loved even then." (from Love Him in the Morning by John Fischer)

Last evening Chuck went to bed early (he's feeling much better but still tired), and Sue and I sat up talking about our lives and how they've intertwined. It was a very loving and healing conversation, but still I took some feelings of regret with me to bed. Mostly the familiar regrets over lost opportunities to fill the souls of my young children with love, affirmation and understanding. My daughters all offer me the kind of grace described above, and I know God does too. I was glad to be reminded through that reading this morning.

Our wonderful neighbor, who taught me to count my "Hallelujah Days," is in hospital with a very serious infection for which he underwent surgery Saturday morning. He is suffering a great deal. Could you add Charles to your prayers today? Also his daughters. Thank you.

Love,
Carol