The Nature of Loveনমুনা

 Orca

Can a mother forget her child?

Is a whale unmoved by her baby’s demise? 

The world was riveted by the anguished orca whale. For days, weeks, long after most whales would have given up, she kept trying to revive her dead baby calf. She swam with her to the surface, she carried her along the top of the water, she kept it up for a thousand miles. While other whales were off chasing the salmon in the Northwest waters, she would not quit. In a mixture of love, instinct, and dogged determination, she persisted and persisted but to no avail. Her baby calf was eventually surrendered to the depths of the sea. The Seattle Times headline read, “The grief felt around the world.”

Animals die, people die, and dreams die every day. But even though it’s common, that doesn’t mean it causes any less anguish and heartache for the ones left behind. 

We were meant to live, we were meant to thrive in this glorious world. And we will go to great lengths to ensure those we love can enjoy life. We lose sleep, money, time, and everything we have in surrender for those we love.

But sometimes it doesn’t work out. And where is God in this unspeakable grief, this hole that has been ripped out of our hearts? Does He know? Does He care?

Isaiah 49:15–16 (NIV) records God’s thoughts. “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands.”

Our names are engraved on the palms of God’s hands. Though a grieving orca may forget her child by next year, God will never, ever forget us. 

God never forgets us. Whether we are the prodigal who has spent years running off with our own grandiose plans and thumbing our nose at Him, He is the Father, waiting eagerly on the front porch for our return. Because love never forgets and love wants the best for us. Love runs toward us. Love never fails.