When I was a kid, I remembered my mom always telling me that she loved me. I would always reply, “I love you more!” Chuckling, she would shake her head and say, “Nope. I loved you first.” And back and forth we’d playfully argue about who loved the other the most.

As the years went by, the words “I love you more than you love me times infinity” became an everyday phrase between my mother and me. Starting each day at midnight, the rule was that if you said these words precisely, before the other, you loved them the most for the entire day and they couldn't argue it. After all, nothing beats infinity.

Today, my mom and I still play this game. It is our special way of taking to turns to let each other know that we love one another more than they will ever be able to understand. And it also means that our love for one another will never end because it goes on forever in its multiplied infinity.

But something has stuck with me about my mother that still leaves me in awe. There is a special love that my mom has for me that not even these words will ever be able to trump—and that is that she loved me first.

And as powerful as that is, God's love for us is above even that.

In 1 John 4:19, it says, “We love Him because He first loved us.” Take a moment and think about the beauty in those words.

God loved us first.