Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Lovity love love. Love.

"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing." 1 Cor 13.1-3

If I qualify for the Olympic Trials in the marathon...
If I build a wildly successful photography business...
If I travel extensively and experience the world...
If I return to school and obtain my bachelor's and master's degrees...
If I marry a sensational man...
If I write a book and see it published...
If I serve in missions in India or Africa...
If I maintain an impressively intelligent/winsome/deep persona...
If I wholly overcome my flaws and personal struggles...
If I communicate warmly with a vast assortment of friends...

Without love it is nothing - I am nothing. Merely a redundant, senseless noise.

I've been mulling over my life recently. (Um. Duh. Don't we all?) I've been proverbially chomping at the bit to uncover what's next for me. I want to strike gold. I want to hit upon the "one thing" that God has for my life (hence the list above) - the epic adventure, the centrally enthralling purpose into which I can channel my passions... essentially the question nearly all humans grapple with in their early 20's, yes?

And the more I crave to know, the less certain I become. All of my "fallback certainties" are being shaved away: hoping in friends, family, a job, financial security, circumstantial stability, predictability, etc. I don't have a darn clue where I'll be next year. But in the absence of those chaff-like securities, a singular, paramount Security has become fantastically tangible... Jesus' love.

He loves me.

HE loves ME.

A whole gloriously freaking lot.

And I love Him back.

And the experience of His love is teaching me how to prioritize, how to live in the precise moment in which I find myself, how to get out of my own way, how to rest, how to laugh, how to feel deeply, care emphatically, speak gracefully, serve humbly, and dream intentionally.

His love is the beginning, middle, and end. It is the "one thing" I've been hunting down. And, in reality, it has hunted me down.

I feel giddy at the thought that I have indeed hit upon the centrally enthralling purpose for which I live and move and have my being. But, more accurately, I've not hit upon it... He has hit me with the onrushing force of His ten million pounds of delight and freedom and satisfaction and expansive love.

Okay, so that sounds poetic and somewhat exaggerated. But it's for reals. For. Realsies.

It isn't the sort of giddiness of Disney characters who break out into some cheesy, trill-laden melody in the middle of a yard or room while talking animals (serving as back-up singers) weave about in a choreographed dance with goofy grins pasted on their faces. Nope. That's eerie.

I'm talking about the "Why-the-heck-does-my-heart-feel-so-happy-and-free-right-now-when-nothing-circumstantially-has-changed?-Jiminy-crickets-it's-Jesus!" giddiness. Yes, that kind.

The one thing is Jesus. His love. For me. For you.

When His love saturates and satisfies me, my endeavors and words and thoughts and choices and interactions won't be counted as resounding gongs or clanging cymbals.

Nopers. I'll be filled with "the fullness of Him who fills everything in every way."

Amen to that.

"I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge - that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God."

Holler.

2 comments:

  1. I am smiling! I love you!

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  2. WoW Em,

    Look forward to seeing you soon. This was a very inspiring and talented piece. You write wonderfully.
    Phil Gocke

    ReplyDelete