This week, I have been able to spend time with my sweet niece, Calla, and my brand-new nephew, Clark. I have loved getting to hold the tiny newborn, snuggling and sniffing and smothering him with Auntie Krista kisses.

I have also loved watching big sister Calla do the same thing. But she doesn’t stop there. She kneels down, gets in Clark’s face and tells him, “I love you so much. You’re the best brother ever. You are so cute. I just love you!” She kisses and hugs him and frames his tiny face with her hands and says it all over again. And when she prays, she thanks God for “the best brother EVER.” It is adorable.

Watching Calla lavish her brother with so much love makes me think of God’s love. All my life, I have struggled with fully grasping how much God loves me. I don’t have a problem knowing God is holy, that He is just, that He is good. But that this holy, just, good God loves ME? Really loves me?

I don’t feel worthy of that kind of love.

But as I watch Calla with Clark, I see a glimpse of the love God has for me. Clark can’t do anything for Calla. He can’t hug her back, yet. He can’t tell her he loves her. He can’t earn her love. But that doesn’t matter. Calla loves Clark simply because he is her brother. And she has loved him since she first found out he was growing in her mommy’s belly.

It is hard to grasp, but God looks at me – at you – like Calla looks at Clark. He loves me, even though I can’t do anything for Him. He loved me, even when I didn’t love Him back. He loves me because I am His. But unlike even the sweetest human love, God’s love is perfect. Complete.

When I remember that, when I live in light of that amazing love, I can release my stresses, my disappointments, my frustrations, and just bask in the deep, deep love of Jesus. I can join in Paul’s prayer that we all “grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ.” (Ephesians 3:18b)