It’s late when I slip into my son’s bedroom to check on him, and I can see that he’s tired. I remind him of our schedule for the next day and encourage him to take time to pray as he’s falling asleep. Saying good night to a teen is different than saying good night to a toddler, and I’m grateful for this peaceful moment together.
As I turn to leave, I say, “Good night. I love you.”
From the bed, his voice comes back. “Mm-hmm.”
It touches my heart. Of course, I always appreciate when the answer is “I love you, too,” but this simple response almost seems more powerful. Mm-hmm.
To me, it shows his certainty that he is loved. It tells me that he feels circled in comfort and support and peace. It is a beautiful assurance to me that although this child was born on the other side of the world and placed in our arms as a toddler, he knows he is surrounded by love. He knows he is home.
All those years ago, our first days together when we met were a time of getting to know one another, living in joy and grief and change and discovery. Love came easily for us as parents, as this little boy slipped into our lives. But connecting and loving doesn’t happen in an instant. It happens over a lifetime, deepening and growing through challenge and celebration and ordinary moments.
“I love you.”
“Mm-hmm.”
It’s such a beautiful response to an expression of love. What a gift it is when we know with such certainty that we are loved.
In many ways, that’s how we are with God. He tells and shows us he loves us in numerous ways. We soak it all in. Sometimes we respond with expressions of love ourselves. We open our hearts to him in prayer. We sit with him in silence. Or we continue along in the busyness of our day, feeling sure he is with us, and trusting in his love.
Sometimes, though, we don’t have the words to express how we feel. There are moments when God reaches out to us to remind us that he is there, and we struggle to articulate that we love him, too.
Especially during the darker, more difficult days, when he is present to us, we might not be able to offer much that sounds like praise and rejoicing. Maybe those are times where all we can do is acknowledge with a simple “Mm-hmm.”
God hears us. He knows what is in our hearts. And he stays with us even at those times when we do not realize how deeply and completely we are loved. In fact, he is with us especially then.
“He loves, he hopes, he waits,” St. Maria Goretti tells us. “Our Lord prefers to wait for the sinner for years rather than keep us waiting an instant.”
Mm-hmm. It’s not that we take God’s love for granted. It’s that we know we are worth loving – and so is everyone else we encounter. We were created out of love, redeemed by love and designed for love. God is love. And we have the chance to rediscover him and his love anew every single day.
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