Hugs communicate. "You're loved," they say, and we feel loved. Even long-distance "hugs" communicate—like this one on my answering machine last night: "Sorry to miss you! Just count this call a big hug from an old friend." That friend was three thousand miles away. Yet I felt hugged.
So, isn't the heartfelt love behind the hug what gives it real meaning we can feel? That dries tears, warms hearts, stills fears, and sighs, "Precious you"?
Have you hugged the world today—mentally, in your prayers? Compassionately? With each precious assurance of God's almighty love that you might have felt today, directing, guarding, governing you and yours, have you reached out consciously and wrapped the whole world (especially its troubled places) in this same truth? To do so is an important part of being a Christian. It's loving our neighbor (global, as well as next door) as ourselves. And it is so needed.
