Photo by Michael Carruth on Unsplash
Sometimes I forget the truth I know.
On the foundation of intentional design, I KNOW that I have been created by love, in love, for love. I know that I am sustained with each heartbeat and every single breath – especially the laboured ones mid-hill on my road bike, when I pushed everything to the max. I see the incredible complexity of design everywhere, and I know that it speaks to purpose. I know that we are a small part in this grand design, yet as creatures we are such an incredibly intricate, interdependent web of systems as to confound the mind. There is no possibility of random coincidence, only intention.
All of this calls the heart to pause and consider. Yes, the mind can reflect also – but it is not always versed in the language of the heart; the language of love. The language of love is one of selfless intentionality toward another. To choose to be attentive, and to do anything on behalf of another is a gift to the receiver, whether they recognize it or not. Love, along with everything else we know, has a source. We did not create love anymore than we created ourselves. This source is as infinite as the Universe itself, for it is rooted in the One that designed and created all things.
The matter of faith is not to believe that love exists – that is academic child’s play. The matter of faith is to believe that love is directed at you; that the One who designed and created you intentionally, pursues and sustains you with that same force of will: love.
What difference does it make to remember that you are loved?
Well, it can be easy to forget when the world is full of unloving will. There are bullies everywhere: in workplaces, homes, communities, and even the church. Everywhere. I have been up against a few over the years, and some very significant ones of late. When this happens it is easy to lose sight of the TRUTH – the fact that we are loved. Its easy to start to believe that we are broken and unworthy when we encounter bullies. Our eyes on the bully and/or the messages that we receive from them, we lose sight of love as a constant, the source of love as being intentional and sustaining – forever and unconditional.
When I posted to encourage people to contend for joy at the turn of the new year, one initial response was, “Dear f-ing loser, please crawl back into your corner of the universe and leave me alone”. I was taken back, but not derailed, as it’s fairly easy to see that this is not so much my problem as their’s. However, when someone close to me, connected through my workplace as an employee or client takes a shot at my character, it is more difficult to navigate the emotions created by their actions and words, and therefore more difficult to remember the truth. My initial reactions are anger, sadness, frustration, discouragement, (or despair) and I am tempted to retreat and protect myself from harm. Actually, I’ve been there, done that, and it doesn’t work. I just end up alone. I am reminded that I need to continue to live (confidently) in the source of love, and to extend that same love to others.
No matter the context of the bully action (home, workplace, community or church), it does not represent the source of love, only the bully’s inability to tap into the source of love and to be loving. The One who IS love is the source of love and love is pure at its source, or it cannot exist at all. So, if you can find even the most fragile evidence of the possibility of love – anywhere – then you have evidence that it exists. YOU may find this in human behaviour, but if you have not, you need only to look to the intention of design to find it.
BTW – I realize that I am coming around to remember that I forget sometimes – as I wrote a song to this effect more than a dozen years ago. The irony is not lost on me 🙂
Here it is on Apple music: Sometimes I Forget
