Christianity

Love Is…

Last weekend Emily Jeffrey looked at what love is on her Sunday morning show on BBC Radio Sussex. Having recorded a short piece for it, it got me thinking about how we view love, so here’s a slightly longer thought about what love is, as a spoken word piece.

Love is…

I think, Impossible to define, 

outside of an all knowing, all seeking, all encompassing divine.

Oh, we love the romantic imagery: cupids on clouds with arrows at hearts aimed,

Valentine’s cards adorned with fluffy poems attempting to make our feelings named,

hearts everywhere we turn, in garish shades of magenta, rose and vermillion,

singing the commercial tune of profits made in their millions.

But it’s all about couples, finding the right one and enjoying being entwined,

flowers, gifts and a very public display of being wined and dined.

Cynical, me? or perhaps just a little bit worn, 

tired of the metaphors, the fluff and the corn.

I’m not averse to it all, just the shallow description of a deeply profound emotion 

that we simplify, attempt to explain, mislabel, as we seek to pin down this devotion.

And there’s more, the confusion of feelings, thoughts, lustful dreams and sensations,

touching, breathing together, intimately exploring with elation?

is this love for the porn generation?

If ‘all we need is love’ then there has to be more to discover

than romance, flowers, cards, and fun times with each other.

But if we look again, with the eyes of one higher than us all

then perhaps love becomes clearer and might hold us forever in its enthral –

for more than a moment, a season, an infatuation, 

but for a lifetime of essential captivation,

as we fix our eyes on the one who died in the ultimate gift of penetrating passion

might true love be revealed to us in all its unconditional glory withoutration.

That same depth of love can be made complete in us if we love one another

our friend, our neighbour, even our enemy must come under that cover.

Could we choose to give of a love so much more than a fleeting touching sensation,

but in our own generous offering, a deeply personal sacrificial donation.

Not just giving to the ones with whom we share our inner facts,

the partner, the kids, the friends in our carefully chosen packs,

but loving the one caked in dirt, the one who seems unlovable, the outcast and the frail

even the one who seeks to poison us with a venomous cocktail?

If we want to reveal the ultimate love we need more than scarlet letters and pretty fluffy words,

we need strength and compassion and understanding that comes from THE Word.

In his love, may ours be given without manipulation, without commerce or cute,

but making love as a sacrifice given to one another, powerfully resolute.

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