K is for Kiss

Written today by our very own "kissable" Lynn Lewis!

My daughters have started a list of sayings that they frequently hear me utter. One of them is, “There are lots of ways to say I love you.”  God created the human heart with a great capacity to love, and to be loved.  While it’s fun to find new and creative ways to say “I love you,” one of the age-old and most popular ways is with a kiss.

Most of us had mothers who gave us kisses when we were little.  Back then, a kiss said, “I’m glad you were born, and I’m glad you are mine.”  How eager I was at that age to kiss mommy and daddy! 

A few short years later, many of us experienced our first romantic kiss. It said, “I have a special love for you, and we belong together.”  (But it sometimes brought heartache, when the person with whom we shared that kiss moved on to share their kisses with someone else.)

Reaching adulthood, kisses come to mean much more – or, sometimes, much less.  Kisses can be carelessly tossed in the air, or caught casually on the cheek.  Some people waste their kisses on people who do not treasure them, or who collect them like trophies. We tenderly kiss our elderly parents, increasingly aware that we may not always have this privilege.

Even a beloved dog can be the giver or recipient of our kisses – sssl-u-u-r-r-r-r-p!  Those exuberant canine kisses seem to say, “I love you!  I need you!  You’re my whole world!  I appreciate all your affection, food, shelter, and our good times together! Let’s go for a walk!!”

My husband never fails to kiss me every time he leaves the house, even if it’s just to run an errand. After 23 years of marriage, it feels like he is saying, “I know you are here, and I’m grateful. I see you.  I appreciate what you do. I’m glad we share life together.”

My 10-year-old daughter is especially affectionate. She wants to kiss and hug me dozens of times a day.  She grabs on as if I’m leaving on a 6-month trip, and wants to “schnuzzle.”  She sticks her face into my chest and inhales deeply to enjoy the aroma of my perfume (and, she says, “a little bit of sweat.”)  It always makes me feel loved, appreciated, and gives me a sense of belonging.

Recently, I was struck by the words of a worship song that mentions a kiss.  You may be familiar with it – they’ve played a video of this song in the worship service. It’s called “How He Loves,” by John Mark MacMillan. There is one line that mentions a “sloppy wet kiss.”  The first time I heard it, I must confess that I was totally distracted by that one line, and it really took me aback.  I had to hear the song several times, and really think and pray about it, before I began to understand (and be enlarged by) what the author was trying to communicate.

The key is to look at the poetry, and powerful imagery, of the whole song, which is about God’s overwhelmingly generous love for us. Look at the immediate context around that one line:

We are His portion and He is our prize,
Drawn to redemption by the grace in His eyes,
If grace is an ocean, we’re all sinking.
So Heaven meets earth like a sloppy, wet kiss,
And my heart turns violently inside of my chest,
I don’t have time to maintain these regrets,

When I think about, the way…that He loves us.

This beautiful song is telling us that God’s extravagant love is overwhelming, overpowering, breath-taking. It sweeps away our defenses, invades our soul, and pervades it with light and healing love.  He knows every hair on our heads; He sees every sin, witnesses every failure, and knows every selfish thought—and yet, He loves us!

We are moved, maybe even undone, and left in need of a response. When we are kissed by the Creator of the Universe with His holy and perfect love, redeemed by the sacrifice of His only son, washed clean, immersed in undeserved mercy, and then adopted as His very own, our hearts must respond in gratitude!

So what is our response?  We let go of our inhibitions, and we kiss Him back! What kind of kisses do we give back to our precious Savior and Redeemer?  We’ve looked briefly at different types of kisses. Guess what? They are all gifts that we can give to God. As Sandi Patti once sang, “You created the gift that we bring.”  We can open our hearts to Him in worship, in prayer, in sacrificial giving, in acts of service, in courageous pursuit of spiritual growth, and by finding ways to meaningfully love those around us.

I want to give God more kisses. I want my kisses to say, “I’m glad you were born, and I’m glad you are mine.  I have a special love for you, and we belong together. I love you!  I need you!  You’re my whole world!  I appreciate all your affection, food, shelter, and our good times together! Let’s go for a walk!!  I know you are here, and I’m grateful. I see you.  I appreciate what you do. I’m glad we share life together.”  I want to grab on to Jesus tightly, many times a day, and inhale His perfume.

Heavenly Father, please open my heart to love You more. Heal the broken places in my heart that cause me to hold back from loving You (and those around me) more extravagantly.  Fill my heart with Your love, light, and freedom.  Free me to worship you with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength.  In Christ’s name, Amen.