Week 4 LOVE

Well, I think I have procrastinated enough!

Week 4 of advent we celebrate Love.

Now this is where I have been stuck as I looked up the definition of Love in Websters' and found it as "intense affection". This seems so disappointing and I am struggling with this particular definition as it just does not do this word justice. But I am finding that with our limited English language we are very to the point and there are so many things which seem so abrupt and not properly expanded upon that meaning is lost among our words. Wikipedia gives a similar definition but goes on to expand to define the different kinds of love we say we experience. It later goes on to explain the definition of Love in different languages and cultures. This is interesting: other cultures have many words for this ONE of our words. This is so much more freeing in how to think about love and its many interpretations.

In our western culture we use this word to describe things as well as people and I think we overuse it to the point where we are desensitized to its full meaning and the potential it has to affect others. Loving an article of clothing should not be the same as loving our spouse or our children, yet this is how we refer to things in our language. A bit of exaggeration that leaves us with little meaning left.

A few years ago I heard a definition of Love that shocked me and opened my eyes to a new way of thinking about this word. It was being described as a verb! Love is an action, it is an act, a doing to someone. It is not just an intense affection, it is an act of kindness, a gesture of affection, it is work! It is something that you have to DO. To love my husband is to DO for my husband. This includes, and should be emphasized, at the times when I don't want to DO. Loving someone is not about what I want or what I will accomplish, it is about what I can DO for someone else.

This is what God has DONE for us. He loves us so much that He came to us and let us torture and kill his only son, and he continued to show us his love by then forgiving us. All the while continuing to DO for us, provide for us, and loving us.

This is what we celebrate in the fourth week of advent. God loving us so much that He extends his mercy and grace over us to invite us to become one of His children.

Wow