I used to get upset with my wife on a regular schedule. Because I had unrealistic expectations. Then God changed all that. Comparing my wife’s love to God’s love led to thinking more about God’s love to the point that I was no longer dependent on my wife’s love. I still love her and she still loves me but it’s better now because I’m more focused on how God loves me.

In 2021 Susan Porter said, “When you know and understand how completely you are loved as a child of God, it changes everything. It changes the way you feel about yourself when you make mistakes. It changes how you feel when difficult things happen. It changes your view of God’s commandments. It changes your view of others and of your capacity to make a difference.” This is true of me. Understanding God’s love changed everything because it changed my mind.

Feeling loved all the time sounds great, but what does it look like in the frame of real lived experience? I work a job. I pay bills. I help my diabetic children count carbs and calculate units. Outwardly I look like an average member of my social class. But I have an invisible source of peace and satisfaction. All the small things that make life good have extra flavor because I interpret them as microsigns from a deity who prepared all of this as an opportunity for me. Every blooming tree and every snowy mountain are a gesture of God’s love.

I have a fear of being forsaken. I’m told we all do. I usually hear it explained from an evolutionary biology perspective. Our species survived by banding together in social groups and to lose that group is a death sentence. This is a plausible explanation for why the constant love of a tireless God would be so attractive. God offers the ultimate social group. You and your loved ones have guaranteed survival and are even guaranteed to thrive so long as you don’t leave God’s tribe. “The Father hath not left me alone,” Jesus said, “He that sent me is with me.”

This is a book I started about faith and thinking right. Do you love it? Hate it? I want to hear from you. My email is in the footer.