Arms Outstretched

To love is to give freely of one's self and ask for nothing in return.  When we question, when we doubt love all we need do is look to the cross and there we will find the purest, most sincere answer of love.  Life can get confusing, we can get lost among the quagmires of fixated reality which is nothing more than physical land mines determining our next step.  We need to look within for answers not around in doubt. Should we look within we will find a peace which is not offered in this world for it is a Godly peace, a Godly love.   Should we be humble enough to accept this love, it will envelope us that we, ourselves, may become this love.  To become love is to become one with Christ, to enter in communion with God that, even in times of strife, times of confusion, our soul rests in love.

We are familiar with 1 Corinthians 13:8-13   Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away.  When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known.  So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.  We have. Heard this passage many times throughout over lives; a Radom quote from a stranger when in a conversation about theology or read at a marriage ceremony but have we ever stopped to really contemplate its full message.   Love never fails. Can this be true?  Look at our marriage rates decline,ore and more children are growing up being passed from one home to the next.  Teenagers fall in love almost everyday with heart throbs on TV.  We incessantly hear, "Oh, I love that place, you have to check it out."  Love, the word love, has become the answer for many of life's unanswerable feelings.  People look how readily the word love is tossed about then they read this passage and think one of two things: wow, times have changed or St. Paul did not know what he was writing.  But love, in the truest sense of the word, never fails; ever.  At the core of our being, we are love.  Made in god's image and likeness we have the ability to become love amidst the hatred perpetuated by the flaws of humanity.  The definition of love, there are many, but the truth of love is singular;wrapped in the arms of  god, knowing and accepting God's unconditional offering of safety, forgiveness and closeness.  To look into the mirror see one's true self, acknowledge one's and accept one's self as worthy of God's offering is to accept love and thus become love in the here and now.  We need it wait until our physical bodies decay to know fully.  To know fully is to become love, to accept one's worth and celebrate love.  Faith will enable us to soar among the clouds, it will keep us seeking God in every situation, it will allow us to hear God in the depths of our soul.  Hope will keep us searching for the hand of God, keep us ever mindful of God's promise, even give us the courage to stop and look around.  It is in this moment of silence that our eyes fall upon the crucifix and our hearts speak of the purest of love.  Social martyrs are created when we feel as though the world has become the opponent fighting against us, leaving us to feel alone, defeated, unlovable.  This is our humanity speaking from the mind causing rifs, making waves so that our heart cannot be fully heard.  Common definitions of love replace the truth of love and we quickly find ourselves lost, dubious thoughts racing leading us in a direction of self annihilation. In verse 11 Paul states, When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things.  My question is why?  Children instinctively know love, they feel what most adults have forgotten, love.  Children are not caught up in details, they see life for its intended purpose, a vast playground in which we are to exercise our freedom to know, to live, and to love.  As adults we place constrains on life, constrains on what is real and what is fictitious.  Bond by these constrains, our vision becomes not only clouded but pigeonholed.  When we are constantly looking at life through a peep hole, how much do we actually see?  To what are we actually looking for objects are skewed by the concavity of the glass.  We are not put on this world to be confined by man made idolatries seeking to normalize thought only to inhibit growth.  Should we doubt this truth all we need do is look to the crucifix for here the answer lies...love.  With outstretched arms, Christ was nailed to a tree, He endured the agony of our sins that we may know and accept of purpose, to love.  Jesus did not "fit" into the man made constraints of His time, He did not blindly follow the rules of the many for he followed the rule of the Father,the rule of love. Seeking only to have others feel God's offering of love and salvation, Christ spoke from His heart, He spoke the words of the Father and offered his life as a sacrifice for ours.  This ultimate sacrifice is our reminder of the truth of our heart, the truth of love.  God granted to each free will.  We Have the ability to accept or reject this offering, accept or reject our very worth.  I am not saying that we reject all man made laws.  We are a society of people regulated by laws that chaos not ruin the very nature of humanity.  But we must not forget the truth as spoken by the heart.  We can be upstanding members of our society and listen to the truth of the heart.  And the three remain, faith, hope and love but the greatest of these is love.

The heart speaks, it is our duty to listen, to give to the heart, a voice.  It is in our acceptance of love, Godly love, that we become whole.  Our human nature lends itself to the glass being half empty but; inspired by God, love infused into our soul, the glass become half full.  Possibilities become limitless when life is saturated in love.  It is not a simple, I love you that heals, it is I love you as God loves you, without conditions.  It is looking into the eyes of another and saying, I know who you are, I know your worth, you are wonderful, you possess God and I will see to it that you have all you need, I will see to it that you do not forget who you are for you are love.  This offering of love, modeled by Christ, is the love w are to share with one another. But the truth is if we do not have love  then love we cannot give.  We must first find the love within before we can offer, truly, wholeheartedly, not sacrificially, offer it to another.  We have the opportunity to become Christ for one another, are we ready to accept this opportunity or are we afraid of its residual effects?  Becoming love means we help others to become love.  This is not a difficult task. For once we become love, the world becomes less frightening.  We become aware of the reality of God and we become infused into the love which envelopes this reality.  We begin to see this life, not as a reality, but rather a stepping stone toward truth, toward true life.  Saturated in unconditional love is not a get out of jail free card, we are not given carte Blanche to do whatever we want.  Actually it is just the opposite, for our acceptance of God's offering of unconditional love equites open eyes that we may see God in this world; open ears that we may hear God in this world; and a open heart that we may feel the presence of God in this world.  Unconditionally we are accepted by God yet we conditionally accept ourselves and others.  Why?  Humanity it flawed, we know this, we are going to make mistakes as are other people; it is what we do with these mistakes that makes the difference.  We can choose to hold grudges, resent the past and inflict upon ourselves and others penance or we can let go, move on and love.  Our time on this earth is short, it is but a drop of water in the open sea.  This is our time to become aware of God, to acknowledge of life in Christ and His offering of love.  We can live without love, we can struggle, claw our way through the forest of life OR  we can journey through the forest in love.  This is not to say that sadness and heartache will not befall us, that is not true for that is a truth of humanity; however, enveloped in the love of god the stink of sadness and heartache will be only superficial it will not penetrate the heart for it is wrapped in love.  The reality of God, the reality of love elevates our understanding of self for if we are made in the image and likeness of God and God is love, then we are meant to be love and to embody love.  We are, indeed worthy of love.  Will we accept this love?  If we accept this love, will we offer it to ourselves and others?  To offer love, we must know love; to know love we must accept love; to accept love we must accept our worth; to accept out worth we just need to look to the crucifix...love in its truest, most pure form.  Love for us, for our salvation, arms outstretched that we may visualize this love for us.  The heart speaks of love, the cross a visual reminder of love; God within speaking, are we listening?