Daily Word of Grace # 138 (September 24, 2020)
In her 2011 autobiography Sweet Judy Blue Eyes Judy Collins (who was the subject of the Crosby, Stills, and Nash 1969 classic “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes”, hence the play on words in the book title) vulnerably wrote about the struggles in her parents’ marriage, including the rampant drunken infidelity of her father who confided with her repeatedly in an effort to “create a wall between my mother and myself.” While this worked initially, the steadfast love of Judy’s mom eventually won the day. Not only were Judy and her mom able to have a close loving relationship, but as she writes, “In spite of it all, her love for him never wavered. Marjorie Lorraine Byrd was a smitten with my father as she had been the day they met. She was never unfaithful over all those years. And she forgave him everything” (33). The Old Testament prophet Hosea compared God’s faithful love for Israel in spite of their rampant idolatry to the faithful love of someone, who like Judy Collins’ mom, faithfully loved in spite of infidelity: “And I will take you for my wife forever; I will take you for my wife in righteousness and in justice, in steadfast love, and in mercy. I will take you for my wife in faithfulness; and you shall know the Lord” (Hosea 2:19-20). The good news of the gospel is that God’s love for you is faithful, no matter what. And in the same Judy’s mom “forgave him everything” God “forgives all your iniquity” (Psalm 103:3) so that indeed God’s love wins the day.
Love and Prayers,
Dave