Day 7 - Midnight Mary's Love

"Midnight Mary" was a woman whose son never came home from WWII.  The story is told of her walking to the train station every single day, for years and years, hoping against hope that maybe, just maybe, this would be the day that he would get off the train.

That kind of persistant love, McKnight says, is the kind of persitant, watchful, longing love that God has for us.   He goes on to recount the story of the prodigal son and shows, again, how the father waits patiently and faithfully for his wayward son to come home.  He says this:

You might give up on yourself, but God doesn’t and won’t. His love is persistent, and it this kind of love that creates the Jesus Creed...
Our Father, no matter what we have done, loves us enough to wait longingly for us.

McKnight also mentions Adam in the garden and this quote struck a nerve with me:

...when God asked a hiding-behind-the-trees Adam: “Where are you?” The implication is clear: God wasn’t going anywhere; God was waiting persistently for Adam simply to come out from behind the tree. And only by coming out to meet the face of love would Adam find healing.

Wow... that is so true.  Any time in my life that I have found myself hiding - purposely or even sometimes not realizing it - the only relief and healing that comes in those situations is when I come out of the shadows and allow myself to look, once again, into the face of God.  And it really is a face of love - because the fear of the face of judgment is what ususally keeps me in hiding.  Only when I remember that it is love that I will encounter, do I find the courage to come out of hiding.