My First Love
I was engaged! I had met him – the man of my dreams and I was head over heels in love with this blue-eyed young man with a southern drawl. Our wedding was only three months away and my heart was overflowing with joy.
There was only one challenge to this season of impending nuptials: I was at home planning our wedding and he was traveling with a ministry group. We could rarely talk on the phone due to exorbitantly high long-distance charges. I lived for the letters sent to me from my beloved, soon to be husband.
The mail was delivered two times a day at the nondescript post office in my hometown. We lived right across the street from the post office. I daily ran across the road by 8:30 a.m., open mailbox 488 to see if Craig had sent anything to me. I also diligently watched for the afternoon delivery and dashed across the street once again to open the mailbox and stick my hand inside.
If I received a letter from my handsome fiancé, I was beside myself with pure joy and began to read the letter immediately. If there was no letter (and often there was not), I would find myself in the depths of despair and even wiped away tears as I turned toward the home of my childhood.
One summer morning, when there had been no mail from Craig for several days, I walked home dejectedly and heartsick. Didn’t he know how much I longed to hear from him? Was he even thinking of me?
While I was feeling sorry for myself, I heard the Holy Spirit whisper, “Carol, I wish you would run to read my Word every day just as you run to look for a letter from Craig.”
I repented immediately and realized that my priorities had been skewed. For the rest of the summer, I read my Bible before I visited the familiar post office. Oh, I still longed for letters from Craig, but the issue of first importance continued to be time spent in the Word with my heavenly Father.
I realized that summer that developing a relationship with the Lord was not so very different as building a relationship with someone I loved dearly on earth. I understood that just as I longed to spend time with Craig, the Lord longed to spend time with me. He wanted to be my first love and the One for whom my heart beat.
Since that momentous summer, spending time with God has been a matter of vast importance and sweet fellowship. I can truly say, “God, You are my first and greatest love!”
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” – Deuteronomy 6:5
Meditation Points:
1 – Have you ever heard the voice of the Holy Spirit speak to you? If so, when and what did He say?
2 – What are some of the disciplines you have incorporated into your own life to build a relationship with God, the Father?
3 – How have you experienced the love of God in your life?
Prayer:
“Father God, I love you so much and I long to make my heart Your home. Teach me to love you more deeply and to follow You more closely. As I go through my day, will You speak to me? Will You lead me? Will You guide me? I delight to do Your will, O Lord! Your Word brings inexpressible joy to my heart. Father, You are my first and greatest love. There is nothing I desire beside You. As I turn my eyes upon you, the things of this earth truly do grow dim. I choose You, Father, today and every day. In the matchless Name of Jesus I pray, Amen.”
