Keep me as the apple of your eye; hide me in the shadow of your wings. ~Psalm 17:8
Valentine’s Day came and went. Bouquets were delivered, cards were exchanged, and chocolates were shared. But, at the end of the day the flowers wilt, the cards get thrown away, and the chocolates are devoured. We often look to our spouse or significant other to feel loved… honored…cherished…noticed. Yet we set ourselves up for disappointment whenever we rely on another human (or they rely on us) to fulfill our basic need for belonging. Our souls yearn to feel unconditionally loved but no human being can ever meet that need perfectly.
What will satisfy our heartfelt desire for unconditional love and belonging? Only a deep, intimate relationship with our Creator. If we have been a Christian for a while we may have the head knowledge about Christ’s love for us. For instance, we may know that God gave us His Son, Jesus, to bridge the relational gap between ourselves and God. We may know that Jesus sees us, walks with us through painful valleys, and offers us compassion, mercy, and grace. Yet there is sometimes a gap ~ a space ~ between what we know to be true and what we adopt deep down into our very bones. We have to take all that head knowledge and allow God to infuse it into our DNA ~ giving all that head knowledge a prominent home in our heart.
The Hebrew meaning of the word, heart, (“Lev” in Hebrew) is so much more than an organ or where we feel great love or emotion. Heart in the Bible refers to the organ that gives physical life and the place where we think and make sense of the world. It is our very center ~ our intellect, our will, where we make choices. Neuroscience now tells us that there are neurons in our heart that connect to our brain. So it is in our heart that we take the head knowledge of God’s unconditional love for us, and make it the very center of our will, our choices, and our lives.
Our Creator is absolutely crazy about us ~ in fact, He can never get enough of us. There will never come a time when He is over us, considers us a bother, or wishes we would check back in with Him after we put our life back together again. He loves us, honors us, cherishes us, notices us. His love never disappoints us and is never disappointed in us. We are the apple of His eye.