What Does God Want Us To Remember? By Merideth Tullous As my children’s book was officially published, I will never forget how nervous I was. Is the message clear? Will children enjoy the story? Will parents want to buy it? Is it magical enough? Will it make a difference? On that special day, my husband practically bounced up and down with pride (and he’s not the ‘bouncing’ type)! He sat glued to social media to see how many views my promotional video received. He would give me the play-by-play: “200 views! ... 500 views!” Each time he updated me I smiled, but I couldn’t quite pinpoint the unsettled feeling in my heart. My husband asked me why I didn’t seem more relieved and excited. I didn’t have an answer at first. After all, I was very happy. But I was not fulfilled. Why? It took some time for me to sort through my head to get the answer. Published meant the physical book was complete, but I realized it was now time to try and spread the message that the Lord placed in my heart and into the words of the book. I realized my journey was not at its end, but at its beginning. I began to pray. I had to pray day after day to try and hear the Lord through all of the noise of our world. God, what does our world need? God, what do you want us to do? God, what do we need to remember? Love. The idea hit my heart.
Our world is full of fear, anger, judgment, and pride—especially now. But in that darkness, we have seen glimpses of the light of love. During this unprecedented time, we have seen the power of the greatest commandment. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” (Mark 12:30-31, NIV) We have witnessed people giving to their neighbors, pouring donations into our medical teams, singing on rooftops, praying for the sick, checking on one another, volunteering, calling one another rather than texting, making time for their loved ones, reading more, and spending more time with God. The list goes on. Love. If we all loved each other a little more each day, our world would improve, even through (perhaps even because of) this turmoil. If we loved God with every fiber of our beings every minute of the day, our world would indeed become better. My book is one small way that I’m trying to tip those scales to bring light and love to children. My journey as an author is just beginning. I have been charged to try and spread an important message. Do I still doubt and worry? Yep. I’m human. But love is always stronger, and God is always bigger.
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