Valentine’s Day.
When you fall in love you lose yourself. No, that’s not quite it. Love smacks you upside the head. Yeah, that’s closer.
There is something about loving another that’s outside your control; like you can’t help yourself. At the same time, you’ve made a choice to give yourself to it.
I will admit that I have been in love several times in my life. Sometimes I knew it. Sometimes I had no idea.
The father side of me, trying to explain this thing to my pre-teen kids has said that it’s like all of a sudden, that other person’s happiness becomes as important or more important than your own. Seeing them smile brings a joy that’s bigger than the stars! And the best is when it is mutual; when they love you and you love them. That’s not to say that their love is equal to yours. Cause’ love cannot be measured. It is as individual and unique as a snow flake.
My three kids have been in multiple relationships. And each time they’d fall for another, I’d start fearing “the break-up.” But a part of me wants them to fall hard and deeply in love; no half-way in the things of the heart. The other part of me wants to protect them from getting scars and callouses on their souls.
One side of love is like being knocked over by a huge wave. The other is a clear conscious decision; the will to give yourself away, to serve, no matter what their response. Their reception of your love does not matter as much as your desire to give it.
I have told couples at their weddings that from now on, every day you will wake up and choose to be married. And that wedding ceremony is the beginning of you publicly telling the world that you choose to love this other person like you love no other person in this world. And I say that, knowing full well that I could not talk them out of it if I wanted to. Cause' love has smacked them upside the head and they re out of their minds, head over heals, gaga over each other. And it’s just fun to be in the same room with the power and depth of that love.
Grace & Peace,
Rev. Kelly
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