Love is messy. Love makes people do the strangest things.
I knew this one guy. He loved this girl. Well he thought he loved this girl but I guess somewhere deep inside he hadn’t figured out what love was so when he said he loved this girl he probably meant it but …but his meaning was slightly twisted from the original intent of the word. See he said he loved her and he wanted to be with her all the time. And she had no clue. Really, she didn’t know he “loved” her. She knew he would follow her around. Everywhere she went, she would catch a glimpse of him hiding behind something and staring at her. She didn’t think that was love. He thought about her day and night. He talked to his friends about her. The image of her grew and grew in his mind until all he could think about was her. Meanwhile, she’s living life wondering every once in awhile “why is this guy always around”. He thinks she is deliberately avoiding him. He starts to see all her actions as somehow being directed to him. “oh” he thinks, “did you see that? She moved her hair out of her eyes with her left hand. That’s how she shows she’s hiding something.” One day, she brushes her hair out of her eyes with her left hand and he loses it. He comes flying from behind the locker door, screaming at her. She’s so confused. She just looks at him. He thinks that means she hates him. That she’s having an affair. So he throws his fists in the air and screams and screams at her and she runs away. He’s standing there angry and humiliated.
There’s another man. He’s a good man. He loves his wife and children. Every day he goes to work and does what he should do. Some days he messes up. Some days he says the wrong things to his wife. Some days she hears the wrong things. But overall, he’s crazy about her and the kids. He does these amazing things every day. Besides going to work, he comes home even though home is a house full of women and children. He smiles and laughs and plays with them. He takes care of them. He makes sure they have the things they need. He even takes care of himself-and if you know most people, you know that is a very strange thing. If you ask him why, he’ll tell you it’s because of love.
I know this other person. This person was the most powerful person in the world. He was there at the creation of the world and he already knows the end. His dad said there is a very hard thing to do and you are the only who can do it. This person loved so much that he went and did that very hard thing. He became a man and lived here. This was the “here” before indoor toilets and hot showers and clean food. This was the “here” that involved dirt and heat and pain and no iced tea. He lived here as a poor man even though his father was the ruler of the universe. Even stranger than that, he allowed himself to be crucified. He allowed himself to be humiliated and beaten and ridiculed. He did all of it for love. How crazy is that? He didn’t stay dead though. He is alive now. He is alive and he still loves us so much that he changes our lives. Every day he brings us change. The kind of change that makes us better, more loving people. He causes the best changes and the changes that hurt the most.
This is crazy love. This is love that is and will be. This is love demonstrated in all its possibilities. It isn’t sneaking around and wishing. It isn’t flawed. This love doesn’t make mistakes. This kind of love is so much more than we can even think about. This love is messy-covered and washed in blood. This is God love. This is amazing.
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