The Point of Love

First off, if you haven't read it already, read The War of Love by one of my good friends and favorite writers, Dylan Lemert. I'll be responding to his blog in parts of my own.  http://infiniteimportance.com/2012/01/27/the-war-of-love/

The following quote comes from the book Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton:
"For one thing, love is a major inconvenience at times. It is rarely efficient...Furthermore, love challenges my self-centeredness, and sometimes it requires me to give more of myself than I want to give. Sometimes (I'd say most times) love hurts, or at least makes me vulnerable. All the time, love is risky, and there are no guarantees..."

My gut-level reaction is to end the quote there. These lines seem to sum up most of how we would define love, at least as far as our finite minds can grasp. I think of classic romance movies like "A Walk to Remember" or "The Notebook,"  both renowned for not just their feel-good scenes, but because they show - albeit in the dolled-up Hollywood way - that love involves pain, it involves the unknown. As Dylan stated, love requires sacrifice, if it's worthwhile anyway. And I also agree, love should (and does) make us feel pretty miserable at times. It's impossible to be objective about love; love is practically defined by its subjective nature! But honestly, I think that's the point. If love weren't a risk, if it weren't a strain on our very sense of control, then it wouldn't be the very thing that makes us human.

"...and yet, love is the deepest calling of the Christian life, the standard by which everything about our lives is measured...the heart of God's will is that we follow Him passionately into love - even if it takes us all the way to the cross."

Only in war do we see people knowingly and consciously choosing to lay down their most prized possession -their very lives- for a cause. The greatest battle of all time was fought and won by the same kind of sacrifice. To what end? To love, simply and completely. We do have to fight to teach others how to love just as we have been taught through the sacrifice and struggle of those who love us. All of the risks - the pain, the betrayal, the very death of our selves - are the price it costs to even step foot on the battlefield. To truly love is to lay it all out on the line and then continue to fight, naked and empty-handed. But that love is the very core of our existence, the reason of our being. What's more natural than that?