Last week, I posted my first "Crosswords" essay. I’m wondering: what did you think? Should I keep going? What did you like about it? What would have been better?
I’m working on my next essay: God’s greatest gift: Choice.
Please leave a comment!
I used to think that ‘love’ was a word invented by Hallmark to help sell cards. Really, I did.
We all have different ideas of what love really is. How we define love defines the very nature of our relationships. This inherently makes every relationship unique. I realize that this may be stating the obvious, but it seems it must be stated. Love is something we all want. The odd thing about it is that it can be quantified. Not by numbers, mind you, but by actions. How often do you hear, "You must not love me because…" There seems to be some idealization that we have about love and this, too, is different between each person.
Although love is unique, there seem to be common elements that bring the word its definition. At the core, I think it would be safe to say love requires trust. Maybe ‘requires’ is too strong of a word, but I don’t think you can love someone without it. In fact, it seems that love is gone when there is no trust.
And herein lies the problem: how do we trust without getting hurt?
My short-lived life as a missionary taught me many things about trust. Trust cannot be purchased nor can it be freely given away. Trust, it seems, is a commodity that must be earned. And once it is earned, trust compounds, allowing each person to change their behavior.
But many of us, myself included, have had that trust broken. Or even worse: it was abused, leaving you wondering why you trusted this person to begin with.
Because of this reality, I think we end up wanting love more than we are willing to give it. That is a disappointing thought, isn’t it? A twisted reality that is our lives all of the sudden changed because of someone that hurt us. The ability and the desire to be vulnerable — to trust — has shrunk. And it has left us wondering what true love really is.
I think the most impressive thing is that this happens to God on a daily basis. A being of infinate power and love who actually wants to have a relationship with you and me. I think it is this love that allows him and compells him to wait for us to come to him. Many people ignore him or hate him because of what he had done before or what he didn’t do. But many of these same people don’t really know him in the same way that we would want to be known.
How can love exist without chance of being betrayed? It is only when we become vulnerable, willing to admit our own limitations that we can experience the love that was meant to be. So many of us have never felt unconditional love…a love that comes no matter what you do, say, or believe. I even dare say that we have become warped and expect love to be this way. But the hurt and pain we feel says otherwise. The fact that we mourn a break in trust shows that we were meant for something more…something more eternal.
In the imperfection of our experiences, we experience what love was meant to be. Something that we can hold on to, have faith in, and trust. This love, oddly enough, is not built; it’s merely experienced. But it’s experience hinges on our ability to believe in something better, our ability to trust in something far more eternal.
If only love were as simple as a holiday greeting card, it wouldn’t be this complicated. But me thinks that it’s complexity is what makes it worthwhile.
It’s been a little over a week since I settled on my townhouse. And it’s starting to come together. I’ve got two more boxes to unpack and then I’ll be good to go!
I’m still in the process of finding roommates, but all in all, I’m really enjoying living it up here in Alexandria.
I’m not one to usually make resolutions, but I’ve decided on a couple:
So, you may be asking, "Mike, what’s a Crossword article?"
For a long time, I’ve wanted to write apologetic essays, similar to the ones that C.S. Lews wrote in Mere Christianity. The goal would not be to preach but would be to explain in plain words what life in Christ is like. I’ve always admired C.S. Lewis’ work and I think I’ll enjoy writing them.
My first article will be "What is love? Baby don’t hurt me."
You can look for it on January 15!