God Loves Everyone

Our family loves music, and we tend to find ourselves at music venues often. One of our favorites is the Ryman Auditorium—so when a musician that we love, like, or even kind of like plays there, we do our best to snag tickets.

A few weeks ago, Dave and I were able to go to the Ryman and listen to Leon Bridges. (I sort of begged Dave to get tickets, and I am so thankful he did because it was a lovely concert...even though it was on a Monday night and we didn’t get home until way past our bedtimes! 

I am also a sucker for concert T-shirts, so our first stop is usually the merch store. As we looked at the shirts, Dave saw one and said, “You have got to get that one.” It was a simple shirt with a sun printed on it and "God Loves Everyone" printed below it. I got the shirt, and later that evening after many energetic songs, Leon Bridges sat down to sing “God Loves Everyone.” As he sang, I found myself sitting on the Ryman's old hard pews listening to his beautiful words with tears streaming down my face. In that moment, I prayed everyone would feel this love. I prayed they would feel God reaching out to them, embracing them, surrounding them with God’s love.

My grown-up Christmas wish is that every person on this earth would allow God to surround them with abundant love. As we celebrate this Advent season, may we embrace the power of God's love sent to us as a babe wrapped in cloth and celebrate that He was sent for every single one of us!

God loves the birds and the bees
God loves the stoners and freaks
And the girls on the street
Just the same as you and me

Old men and the young and the strange
School kid looking out at the rain
Cops on the beat and the crooks in the cage
Just the same

God sees all the folks on their own
God knows what it's like to be cold
And the winners and losers and player and fool
For the game

God loves everyone
Everybody under the sun
God loves everyone
Just the same, oh
Just the same...

Reflect and Respond

• Who/what is your favorite musical artist or genre? What about it/them resonates with you?
• Do you feel God's love for and around you? If so, what does it feel like? If not, what do you think is the disconnect?
• Take a few minutes to pause and listen to a song about God's love today. (Use God Loves Everyone, if you can't think of another). As you listen, close your eyes and focus on hearing the words in reference to you personally. Try to feel and accept God's unconditional love, and say a prayer of thanks as it ends.