Love. It's something oft talked about, something taken for granted, something at times we feel we lack or we don't understand, but something that we all desire and need. Love. This is a dictionary definition that I liked: "a deep and enduring emotional regard, usually for another person. Love may apply to various kinds of regard: the charity of the Creator, reverent adoration toward God or toward a person, the relation of parent and child, the regard of friends for each other, or romantic feelings for another person."
Over the past few months I've been reading the book "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis. I want a better understanding of love, what it looks like, how to show it and how to receive it. I feel like I still have a long way to go in that, but then I guess we all do. The unconditional love of God blows my mind... it's so difficult to comprehend that if I think about it too much I get a headache. Yet It is so beautiful, and so powerful, and it's completely changed my life over the past 5 years. When I realized that God's love for me (and everyone else!) will NEVER change regardless of how much I mess up OR how much "good" I do, it changed the way I viewed life!
Affection. Friendship. Eros. Charity (the four loves.) This is an excerpt from the book I liked where C.S. Lewis is quoting St. Augustine, "This is what comes, he says, of giving one's heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away."
So the journey of love is an everyday thing... there are opportunities to show love all around us... I'm realizing that I often hold back from pouring out love even if I feel it... and I wonder why that is? A fear of rejection perhaps... yet the majority of people would not reject love... its a chance to be vulnerable that is for sure... so a fear of getting hurt? or losing someone? These are just thoughts I'm musing on of late, because I want to give & receive love freely.
C.S. Lewis goes on to say that there is no safe investment, that the only place outside Heaven where you can be safe from all the dangers of love is Hell.
"We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor. If our hearts need to be broken, and if God chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."
So today I'm challenged (and I want to challenge you) to show love to someone in a new way... wherever and whatever that looks like.
Over the past few months I've been reading the book "The Four Loves" by C.S. Lewis. I want a better understanding of love, what it looks like, how to show it and how to receive it. I feel like I still have a long way to go in that, but then I guess we all do. The unconditional love of God blows my mind... it's so difficult to comprehend that if I think about it too much I get a headache. Yet It is so beautiful, and so powerful, and it's completely changed my life over the past 5 years. When I realized that God's love for me (and everyone else!) will NEVER change regardless of how much I mess up OR how much "good" I do, it changed the way I viewed life!
Affection. Friendship. Eros. Charity (the four loves.) This is an excerpt from the book I liked where C.S. Lewis is quoting St. Augustine, "This is what comes, he says, of giving one's heart to anything but God. All human beings pass away. Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away."
So the journey of love is an everyday thing... there are opportunities to show love all around us... I'm realizing that I often hold back from pouring out love even if I feel it... and I wonder why that is? A fear of rejection perhaps... yet the majority of people would not reject love... its a chance to be vulnerable that is for sure... so a fear of getting hurt? or losing someone? These are just thoughts I'm musing on of late, because I want to give & receive love freely.
C.S. Lewis goes on to say that there is no safe investment, that the only place outside Heaven where you can be safe from all the dangers of love is Hell.
"We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armor. If our hearts need to be broken, and if God chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."
So today I'm challenged (and I want to challenge you) to show love to someone in a new way... wherever and whatever that looks like.
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