1:30 on a sleepless Monday night

Reading 1 Corinthians 13 tonight....it is a pretty startling picture of what love can be.....the part that really hit me was the last sentence, love never ends. As silly as it may be I think one of the most profound lyrics from the past few years is found in, "Hey Ya," by Outkast, if nothing lasts forever, what makes love the exception? I think that is a very legitimate question, especially with the way we've seen "love," end again and again.

Reading the passage you have this amazing picture of the possibility of love. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. It's as if paul is saying that over and against every imaginable situation love can sustain, it can push through, there is nothing too dark which can keep love from dying. But, this seems so contrary to what we see before us everyday. I wonder if the problem is that we don't tend to realize that this is what love can grow into, but that it takes work in spite of our feelings and circumstances, and that even above working on our faith we have to devote ourselves to it daily. always rethinking what it means to really love, always on the lookout for how to love, always giving space for God and people to speak into our relationships....


I mean if God is love. I mean he actually embodies it completely, it is not just a trait or an aspect of him, than as reflections of him, with his spirit moving within us we have an amazing capacity to express love as it is meant to be. And his greatest expression of love on the cross, was "love in spite of..." our sin, our marginalizing him, cheating on him, our neglect, our taking his love for granted (all the reasons relationships breakdown). So the good news for us as reflections of him is we are capable of this kind of love, right? That is what i loved about Eternal Sunshine, the idea that, "in spite of," all the hurt and everything they knew they would have to face with each other they were willing to love. In the beginning, God knows all our junk, but he looks past it to who we are, to all the things he wants to enjoy with us, to his desire be in relationship with us, to have us be part of his dreams and aspirations for the world, and to see us fulfilling our true potential. If you look at it, God's hope is stupid and fatalistic, because we can't possibly live up to all we should be, but his hope and belief don't allow him to give up on us and continue to pour out his love on us, because he isn't afraid of our brokenness or being hurt by us, and forgives and forgets. How awesome is it that he pushes our sin as far away as the east is from the west, never bringing it back up as ammunition in an argument or to guilt trip you, but he remembers and holds onto all the little things we do which bless him and others and blesses us now for those while still storing up treasure for us for later? What if that was the mark of a relationship, one that dealt with hurt, than let it go, and instead looked for ways to enjoy all the good things about a person and lavish them with gifts, encouragment, and affection?

Now, if God is love, and love is the most important thing, something we are capable of embodying and we are in a spiritual battle, not with flesh and blood, what is going to be the one thing demonic spirits attack? it has to be the capacity to love and to express that love publicly, right? Because when we love, in that moment God is best represented and there is no way demonic spirits want God to be seen. It has to be their prerogative to lie to us that its not worth it to forgive again, to go the extra mile, to expose our heart, to put the other person first, to apologize, to express love passionately and affectionately.....

Passionate expressions which show love, a love that reflects God's are one of the most spiritual expressions available.....in that moment we are giving and recieving something of God's love and awakening ourselves and everyone around that there is potential for love. This is something I am incredibly thankful to my parents for, they helped awaken me to the possibilities of love. they always kissed in front of us, gave each other massages, caressed each other, and still do, 24 years into their marriage.

it's awesome to think about the possibility that there is a love that never ends....and that it is available for us to experience....