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"When we take up permanent residence in
a life of love, we live in God and God lives in
us. This way, love has the run of the house, and
becomes at home and mature in us ..." ( 1
John 4.16-17a, The
Message)
Yet I Love
"In
no other human experience do we fail so
frequently, get hurt so badly, suffer so
excruciatingly, and get deceived so cruelly as in
love."
All
of us know the pain of love. Parents who split up,
a broken marriage of our own, a close friendship
gone sour, or betrayal by someone we trusted. The
wound cuts deep because love matters so much. It's
our most fundamental DNA.
Yes,
the word love may rank among the most dressed up,
messed up, and misused words in our vocabulary.
Yes, we have some strange ways to seek it and
odd ways to express it. Yes, we all have different
expectations attached to it. But love
distinguishes us from the machines that culture
wants to make of
us.
Valentine's
Day was this past Tuesday. Red hearts, stuffed
teddy bears, cheap chocolates, and Hallmark cards
raked in millions of dollars for the manufacturers
- exploiting our attraction to love like moths to
a flame. Despite our poor track record, love
continues to promise so much. Even the bolted
doors of some broken hearts may have creaked open
- ever so briefly - to peek out, in
hope.
I
regularly fail in love. When love would listen, I
speak. When love would forgive, I keep score. When
love would congratulate, I begrudge. When love
would be gentle, I am
harsh.
Then,
when I think it would be simplest to close my
heart - to isolate it and protect it - I find
the door pushing itself open again. Just when I
decide that relationships are too complicated and
people too unpredictable, I realize those words
describe me best. Just when the pain
feels unbearable and the wound feels unhealable,
love itself becomes the
balm.
So we love. We must. We love,
not
because it's easy but because it gives
life.
We
love not just those who like us, but those who are
created like us ... the friendly and the fickle,
the gracious and the ungrateful, the humorous and
the
hurtful.
Not by discipline or sheer determination. Nor
through will-power or mutual affection, but as a
response, because He first loved us (1 Jn 4.10,
19) and His love compels us (2 Cor
5.14).
Love
is one of the slipperiest words in the language,
yet it remains the foundation for life. Take my
money, force me to change careers, delete my email
... but let me love. And He
does.
Amazingly,
Jesus keeps saying that to me. "Yet I
love!"
In HOPE
-
David
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