love does.

I’ve been sitting on this thought for a while now, and I’ve been reminded on the joy of loving for the sake of loving. I’ve also been equally challenged by what it means to love in this day and age, and within my own expectations of love and what it means to me. Perhaps the biggest test of love, is the idea of loving things and spaces that do not love us back. While I am not an advocate of pouring out energy where it is not respected or reciprocated, I am reminded that perhaps that to do so is a masterclass in obedience and recognizing that more often than not our need for approval or hurt gets in the way of authentic engagement with love.

Love that needs an explanation is not love, but a desire to prove, fix or cultivate. Love is not for that specific encounter or person to love us back, but that in loving, we learn the obedience and patience that comes from the act of extending grace and gratitude. Love is not grand jesture, but a consistent safety. It is dependable, and faithful to the end.

The mundane that often we take for granted can be the greatest opportunities of growth and exploration of love. Love thrives without expectation, and in the words of author Bob Goff; love does. Love shows up not because it is easy, but because it is hard. To love through grief is the toughest form of love, because it is a love that is weathered, and strengthened in adversity. In that, love recognizes that the world is often cruel and unforgiving and that sometimes it takes a moment to yield within a quiet act of kindness to shift perspective and change the atmosphere.

We know the saying that love is patient, love is kind, love is not proud. Love does not boast, dishonour or is self-seeking. Love is not easily angered nor keeps record of wrong. It does not delight in anger but rejoices in truth. It protects, trusts, hopes and always perseveres. Often times in Christian circles, it’s easy for us to replace love with our names in order to understand the power of love within us and how we engage more with the Fruit of the Spirit, and while that is perhaps the first step, it is not the only step. 

So perhaps the challenge moving forward becomes how more can we engage our whimsy. To say yes when it is inconvenient for us to do so, and to involve ourselves in spaces that perhaps do not make sense for us to do so with the purpose and goal of making the space we exist and stand in better than what it was before we came. Love is creative and allows us to change the world where we stand. It can be argued that a tiny drop in the ocean is better than no drop at all. The biggest lesson I’ve learnt from loving hard and loving unexpected is the joy that comes when it returns in the most unexpected places. 

When we choose love, love will always find us. It may not come from the spaces we expect or intend for it to, but it greets us with a joy that always whispers,

“thank you for taking a chance on me”.