Love

I've been thinking a lot about love lately. Not necessarily romantic love, but just love in general. What it really means, what it looks like, what if feels like. There are a lot of songs out there with the world's idea of love. A selfish, easy going, fuzzy kind of love. But is that really love? Is love really easy? I'm pretty sure true love isn't easy and I know that some of you are emphatically agreeing with me, that love is anything but easy. It's powerful to be sure and can do amazing things. The Bible tells us that love is long-suffering, kind, gentle, not boastful, selfless, not rude. Love never fails. However it doesn't say, love is all of these things as long as it's easy for you. Only love the people that are easy to love. Be long-suffering with the people that never get on your nerves. All the while the world is telling you to do what will make you happy and what is easiest for you....love yourself it says. These two views couldn't be any more opposite. And as I examine my life against the truths of Scripture, I realize just how much I am influenced by the world's standard of love. I realize how many times I am loving because it's easy. And perhaps it is easy in some situations, but we are called to love in the easy and hard situations. I keep praying that the love I show will be more and more Christ-like and less worldly....less self-serving.

At this point I feel like I just rambled in the above paragraph and I'm struggling to really convey the thoughts that are bouncing around in this crazy head of mine. But maybe Andrew Peterson can help me out. He has a knack for saying what I 'm trying to say in a much more poetical way....he should really stop reading people's minds....

These are lyrics to his song, Love is a Good Thing:

"It knocked me down, it dragged me out, it left me there for dead. It took all the freedom I wanted and gave me something else instead. It blew my mind, it bled me dry, it hit me like a long goodbye, and nobody here knows better than I that it’s a good thing.
Love is a good thing. It’ll fall like rain on your parade, laugh at the plans that you tried to make, it’ll wear you down till your heart just breaks and it’s a good thing. Love is a good thing.
It’ll wake you up in the middle of the night, it’ll take just a little too much. It’ll burn you like a cinder till you’re tender to the touch. It’ll chase you down, swallow you whole, it’ll make your blood run hot and cold. Like a thief in the night it’ll steal your soul, and that’s a good thing. Love is a good thing. It’ll follow you down to the ruin of your great divide, and open the wounds that you tried to hide. And there in the rubble of the heart that died you’ll find a good thing. Love is a good thing.
Take cover, the end is near. Take cover, but do not fear. It’ll break your will, it’ll change your mind, it’ll loose all the chains of the ties that bind. If you’re lucky you’ll never make it out alive, and that’s a good thing. Love is a good thing. It can hurt like a blast from a hand grenade when all that used to matter is blown away. There in the middle of the mess it made you’ll find a good thing.Yes, it’s worth every penny of the price you paid. It’s a good thing.
Love is a good thing.
Do not fear."



-Jessie Rae