I’m listening to Adele on a DVD from my public library’s collection. Believe it or not it’s my first time to hear Adele. I know! Where have I been?
She takes my thoughts to Valentine’s Day with all the songs about love. Unrequited love. Disappointed love. Love gone wrong. Love that came and then went. Makes one wonder, is there really a love that lasts?
While there are couples who have stayed together to celebrate 50, 60, even 70 years of marriage, how many have gone by the wayside? Too many.
In a perfect world, we would all love with a pure love, without expectations, simply loving for the sake of love. And wouldn’t the world be a better place?
But we don’t live in a perfect world.
When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment – and there were so many the Jewish people were concerned with following – there were only two He mentioned.
Everything else hinges on these two commands. Love God. Love others.
What if we asked God for the power, the ability to do that? What if everything we did was first measured by “what would love do?” What if this kind of love changed our hearts and made us different in every way?
Jesus beautifully did exactly that. He loved God perfectly, and He loved others perfectly. And the world killed Him for it.
But the power of love is greater than death. He proved it to us. He lives and loves still.
While I am in my lenten season of being present in the moment, I hope I can focus on loving better.
Loving like Jesus is a high calling, more than celebrating Valentine’s Day or the wedding anniversary each year. It’s not something I can do naturally because I’m too self centered. It will require a heart transplant.
His heart in me. It’s the only way to love. The only way to really live.
Peggy's Journal 