Abbey loves to sit in church service on Sundays. She loves to greet the people as they come in and to listen to the music (though it’s often too loud for her to tolerate without headphones). Most weeks when she cantolerate the music, we find her contentedly clapping and commenting throughout the service in her adorable and exuberant way.

Our church’s main sanctuary building was recently renovated during the COVID shutdown and there is now a beautiful wooden cross, light from behind, hanging at the front. The story of this cross we were told was that a talented local craftsman had taken the old pews of our church and used them to make the cross. As he formed the cross, he envisioned all of the people of our community who had sat in those pews for all of those years. Generations of our community have grown up in this church and it is a wonderful testament to the generations of faith that abide there. 

One day soon after the opening of the newly renovated sanctuary, as we sat there waiting for the service to begin, Abbey sat between us staring up at that cross. She turned to Eric and said, “There’s a cross!”, then she paused and finished her thought, “Does this mean love?”. 

“Yes!”, Eric answered with a smile on his face and in his heart, “The cross shows us Jesus’s love”. 

I can’t help but think about this simple sweet and sacred moment as we approach Easter. Abbey often says the deepest of things in the simplest of ways and truly she seems to have a sixth sense about spiritual matters which always cause us to stop and ponder. 

“Does this mean love?”.

Yes, the cross shows us more love than we could ever know. The cross itself is not beautiful. In fact, it is a tangible reminder of the brutal death sentence carried out on our savior. But it is also a tangible reminder of how Jesus gave up his life freely so that we might have life both here and into eternity. Yes, the cross shows us everything about God’s love for us. The Bible says the following.  

“But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”

Romans 5:8

“He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness.”

1 Peter 2:24

What a blessing to know that our God loves us. This Easter as I look up at that cross, I will remember Abbey’s sweet summary of God’s love for me and for all of us.