Noteworthy

Seth Godin says if one wants to get better at writing, one should write everyday.  So, I am taking his advice and trying to write at least more often.  I write what I am thinking about, and today I am thinking about love.

There are clichés about love that I have rolled my eyes at, mostly from songs that I thought were about overenthusiastic, unrealistic, idealized versions of love.  I was bitter towards these songs when I thought they were setting up unreachable expectations for relationships.  At the risk of sounding cliché myself, I now know that is not the case.  There is love that captivates, makes the world seem brighter, makes ordinary things seem profound, gives hope.  This love is the kind that I can't believe I was lucky enough to find, that sometimes just makes me smile for no reason, that has made me better, and that has made me believe in seemingly impossible things... I could go on, but I will restrict myself, even though this love is one that wants to share with the world without reservation and doesn't care how it will be received by others because it has been felt by the two it was made for.

Someone once told me they would know they had found the one person they wanted to love for the rest of their life when that person was someone with whom they served the kingdom better than on their own.  At the time, I was not entirely sure that was possible (or very romantic).  I was dating someone who distracted me from my kingdom work and made it harder for me to love God (that's a deal breaker, ladies).  I also didn't want to believe that someone else (besides Jesus) could make me more whole of a person.  I thought that meant that without that someone I was less whole of a person.  It is difficult for me to explain, but easy now for me to understand.  I am not less of a person when I am single, and anyone who thinks that of themselves has some emotional issues to work through.  However, there are people in my life that make it easier for me to be whole when they are around.  So now, I agree with whoever told me this (I forget who it was...).  Entering into a godly marriage means in part that the two are a more powerful force in God's kingdom than the individuals are on their own.  And I do think that is very romantic.  Love has a much greater purpose than being fallen into.

Love between two people is empty without knowing from where it originates.  As big as this human kind of love feels, even when it is just right, it pales in comparison to the Love that created the world, that survived even after it was put to death, that gave me life, that has healed me and made me whole, and that fights for me every day of my life.

The purpose of love - any kind of love - is to point to the one true lover himself.