Love With a Bow On It
I've been reading "No Man Is An Island" by Thomas Merton. I've been in the first chapter for the last month. Every sentence he wrote is a deep well.
In this first chapter, he has a lot to say about love; what it is, what it isn't, how it survives and grows, how it is shackled. Most of it is very familiar to me, but Merton adds clarity and punctuation in all the right places.
I read this line this morning:
In order to go on to chapter two, I've decided to add a couple words of my own to Merton's. I will say, "(Love) can only be given perfectly when it is received as it is given back. If I wait for my friends to love me in the way I might think I've loved them in order to call it love, I think I'll live a loveless life, robbed of the gift that is given to me because I don't recognize it. If God were to wait for me to love him the way he has loved me (which my heart longs to do), he would not be the God of the cross. I choose grace and thankfulness. With a great big bow on it.
Also, I will continue to give love whether or not it is reciprocated. It may not be "perfected" by a response, but it's the way of the cross, and well worth the expense of the gift.
Rambling thoughts, I know. But dang it, I've got to get on to chapter two.
In this first chapter, he has a lot to say about love; what it is, what it isn't, how it survives and grows, how it is shackled. Most of it is very familiar to me, but Merton adds clarity and punctuation in all the right places.
I read this line this morning:
I've been stumbling over this concept because it doesn't fit well with my theology. I believe strongly that God's love for me is not limited by my lack of reciprocation. He has been gracious and patient with my spiritual retardation, and he has lavished his presence on me in my lucid moments. So, if when we were yet sinners - non-reciprocating, self-focused, with dark hearts - Christ died for us, what does that say about perfect love? Or, loving perfectly? Merton's take on perfect love implies an equity that I will never know with God or with my loved ones.The gift of love is the gift of the power and the capacity to love, and,
therefore, to give love with full effect is also to receive it. So, love
can only be kept by being given away, and it can only be given perfectly when it
is also received.
In order to go on to chapter two, I've decided to add a couple words of my own to Merton's. I will say, "(Love) can only be given perfectly when it is received as it is given back. If I wait for my friends to love me in the way I might think I've loved them in order to call it love, I think I'll live a loveless life, robbed of the gift that is given to me because I don't recognize it. If God were to wait for me to love him the way he has loved me (which my heart longs to do), he would not be the God of the cross. I choose grace and thankfulness. With a great big bow on it.
Also, I will continue to give love whether or not it is reciprocated. It may not be "perfected" by a response, but it's the way of the cross, and well worth the expense of the gift.
Rambling thoughts, I know. But dang it, I've got to get on to chapter two.
2 Comments:
True love is unconditional love; that love which is given even when none is received back, and especially when it is known that none will be received back. When Jesus Christ was on the cross, obeying the will of God the Father, and giving His greatest sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the whole world, He knew that He was not receiving love back at that moment, and yet He loved us still, and so much that He suffered, bled, died, and victoriously rose again, all so that we can have eternal forgiveness, reassurance, and everlasting life. We know that the Bible says that God is love, and yet this can be amplified to say that God is love unconditional. He also showed that one can love just as well even though they never receive love in return. True love cannot be measured that way, because true love is unconditional, and if it isn't unconditional then it isn't really love. It's best to err on the side of serious caution when reading the writings of fallen men such as Merton, and delve into God's perfect book as diligently, because that is where we learn most accurately about the one true Giver of true love, and the one true love that He gives to all.
:)
Do you love God, Rocky?
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