Love Interlude: He was breath-taking to her. Moments in his presence often left her limp and longing for more of him. She day-dreamed him into her life, wished him into her future. She danced when she thought of him and something on the inside leaped every time. All she knew was that she wanted him. He could make her life wonderful, exciting, better than it was. Here’s a thought: “what did she think of before he came?” Now, all she seemed to think or imagine was this strange kind of love talk. He made her a little crazy, a little off balance, a little out of control. Words rattled in her spirit, “I love you. Yes, I believe I do.”
It’s been said that love is a four letter word, yes, a little dirty, a little risky. In it’s purest form LOVE is God (1 John 4:8). In the English language, however, it can be a little confusing as we use the word love to describe our favorite movie and our favorite person in the same breath. All the while meaning two different kinds of love. In fact, the Greek language has at least 14 different words to exemplify the various forms of love, and English has one. That is interesting. Love is interesting. That’s easy to see as it is the ready topic of every other movie and ready thought of every other single, unmarried individual over the age of 30. We want love, this captivating all encompassing, us against the world kind of love with another individual. Some of us have spent a life time dreaming of it, hunting for it, being destroyed by misinterpretations of it, devastating others with our confusion about love. And it’s still an amazing attention getter. But I was taught that in all my getting to get understanding (PRO 4:7). And that leads me to Tina Turner. Remember her song from the 80s, What’s Love Got To Do With It?
It was one of my favorites growing up. Her big hair, sassy walk and captivating voice had me singing and wondering, “Why is she saying this?” One of her lyrics always grabbed my attention more than the rest: who needs a heart, when a heart can be broken? “I do“ I used to whisper to myself, ”I need a heart.“ Then, I learned more about her story of violence in her marriage and I lived a story of my own and today her words make a lot more sense. That’s where the risk and the dirt comes in – hearts can get broken, BUT I still whisper to myself, ”I need my heart. Even though she can be broken, I need her.“ To live our best lives, risk will be required, but the cool thing about God is this: He gives us plenty of guidelines to help us avoid a mess again and again, if we simply pay attention (and believe me, I know it’s easier said than done sometimes).
I have learned something though. People have been mishandled by other four letter words that they have masqueraded as love and people have been mistreated by others who heard the word on love but never finished the book. In the next post, we’ll talk about these other four letter words and a little secret that makes this whole thing a little easier.
MizJAI…pondering the meaning of real love
