From the corner of my eye, I saw the small bunch of tulips, and I added them to my grocery cart. Tulips add a delightful splash of spring colour to any room.

From an email I received a few days ago I learned that at the Keukenhof garden, in the Netherlands, 7 million flower bulbs have been planted.  I cannot fathom 7 million flower bulbs.

The World Health Organization shares that there have been 113,467,303 confirmed cases of Covid19 since the pandemic began.  I cannot fathom over 113 million cases.

The World Health organization also reports that there have been 2,520,550 deaths due to Covid19.  I cannot fathom 2.5 million deaths.

There is no possible way to wrap my mind around those numbers.  I cannot fathom their extent.

I think of the word fathom and I hear myself singing, “Who can fathom the depths of your love?”

“And I pray that you…may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” (Ephesians 3:17-18).

What does it matter for you and me that God loves us?  What difference does it make for us and our world when we are struggling through a pandemic?

Last year the Dutch astronaut, Kuipers, who planted the last bulb in Keukenhof this year, sent satellite pictures of the tulip fields, from space. Millions of blooming tulips, daffodils and other bulb flowers were seen. (I cannot fathom the immense expanse of space either!)

The love God has for us does not see us from a distance, as from space.  The love of God has come near, very close, delighting in our beauty.  This is also difficult to fathom.  The God of eternity, known in Christ Jesus, entered our world and enters even closer still into our very lives as with faith we believe. This love surrounds, stills, offers hope, establishes thought patterns, comforts, strengthens, frees, and forgives. It is for us, and our families, and neighbours.  It is for those who are enduring the unfathomable statistic of deaths recorded due to Covid19.

Paul, who endured many unfathomable experiences, including shipwreck and wrongful imprisonment wrote, “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord”.  (Romans 8:38-39).

Today surrounded by much that is difficult to fathom, may the unfathomable, yet real love of God, be something we rest in and seek to understand more fully. This is the song I sang as I tried to fathom 7 million bulbs planted.

I Stand in Awe

You are beautiful beyond description
Too marvelous for words
Too wonderful for comprehension
Like nothing ever seen or heard
Who can grasp Your infinite wisdom?
Who can fathom the depth of Your love?
You are beautiful beyond description
Majesty, enthroned above

And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

You are beautiful beyond description
Yet God crushed You for my sin
In agony and deep affliction
Cut off that I might enter in
Who can grasp such tender compassion?
Who can fathom this mercy so free?
You are beautiful beyond description
Lamb of God who died for me

And I stand, I stand in awe of You
I stand, I stand in awe of You
Holy God, to whom all praise is due
I stand in awe of You

Eternal God, in you, through Jesus, we find the expression of true love.  Our world has not always shown us love and in this we are sometimes hesitant to believe a love so great truly exists.  Help us to fathom a portion of your extensive love today. For those who are weary may your love surround. For those who are discouraged may your love lift.  For those who are afraid to trust your love, shower it down with an undeniable realization that it is real! Remind us all to rest in your immense love for each of us today. AMEN

With care and in prayer,