Love With A Capital V

Ahhh … love sweet love.

What the world needs now.

I want to know what love is.

Can’t help falling in love.

What’s love got to do with it? 

Love hurts.

The dichotomy between the bliss and despair of love has persevered since the dawn of time. Love songs have surely been around that long as well. I imagine Adam might have felt like singing when God created Eve.

“Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib,
and He brought her to the man. 
‘At last!’ the man exclaimed.”

-Genesis 2:22,23 (NLT)

You may look at my title and assume at this time of year, that the capital “V” is for Valentine’s Day. But, if you did, you would be wrong. My “V” is for “Vulnerable”.

The vulnerability of love makes us susceptible to all kinds of emotional “stuff”.  If we’re doing it right, falling in love can make us feel like we’ve been launched into “The Hunger Games” after rising from a dizzying tube ride of romance. Covered in tracker jacker stings, full of lethal venom, battling hallucinations, and waging combat against every kind of Muttation. We’re fighting for our heart and the very next breath we take.

Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Yeah, love hurts. But in the end, love is worth every moment of the euphoric struggle.

That’s the mystery of love. We know going in what we’re opening ourselves up to but, headlong we go. It’s a mystery not even Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christy, or Jessica Fletcher could solve. 
 
Love is just that BIG!

 “…Love flashes like fire,
    the brightest kind of flame.
Many waters cannot quench love,
     nor can rivers drown it…”

 ~Song of Solomon 8:6,7

When we jump on that “Love Rollercoaster”, (song by Ohio Players, 1975. You’ll have to forgive me, I’m feeling rather musical today) we can’t deny the ups and downs of the ride, or the thrill of feeling weightless as our stomach drops and gravity pulls us downward at great speed, leaving us floating—momentarily—as our pounding heart triggers a fight-or-flight response. 

Until …
The Vulnerability Kicks In 

Being vulnerable means we choose to open ourselves to the possibilities of hurt and insecurity. Vulnerability means we allow someone else to see who we really are behind that veil we hold so tightly closed.

• Emotional Disclosure: At some point, we’re going to have to—you know—share our “stuff”. Fears, dreams, failures, what makes us insecure. All the stuff we keep hidden. Love reaches in and yanks it out in the open. Warts and all.
  
• Pain: Love means allowing someone to take hold of our heart. Wow! Like enduring open heart surgery, that life-pumping muscle is laid bare to all the bacteria of broken heartedness. (Yeah, I kinda left the beauty of romance out of that one. But you gotta admit, it is descriptive!)
  
• Surrender: The U.S. has a military-wide code of ethics that states, “I will never surrender of my own will”. Well, that’s not going to fly when we’re dealing with love. Love requires us to surrender. If we’re going to participate in all the wonderfulness of love, surrender has to be our daily bread. I know we want to protect ourselves but, love always has other plans and surrender, we must. Surrendering allows us the freedom to step into a deeper place of acceptance and trust.
  
• Comfort Zone: Let’s just stop right here and get over it. The comfort zones of love are those moments of breathlessness, safety, routine, and familiarity, but honey, we can’t always live there. Love is going to push us to look our flaws straight in the face and either deal with them or realize there is not going to be any comfort. 
  
• Trust: Love means relying on someone else—at times—to have the strength, the ability, the surety, to be our standard-bearer in the midst of whatever the world throws at us. Trust circles right back to surrender. We have to surrender control at times if we truly trust someone. Trust is not optional when it comes to love.

Love is not a one-way street (Such a true, yet droll cliché). All the things we expect from someone else, that someone else expects from us. Give a little, take a little. Sometimes. Give a lot, take a lot. Sometimes.

A Greater Love

It may seem that nothing could be more glorious than the exhilaration, the stomach butterflies, the extreme desire of falling and being in love, but yet, there is a greater love.

“For God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son,
that whoever believes in
Him should not perish
but have everlasting life.”

-John 3:16

Emotional Disclosure? God already knows.
Pain? God heals the brokenhearted and transforms our pain into purpose.
Surrender? He brings peace and freedom and life in His presence. 
Comfort Zone? We walk in His Grace and Mercy.
Trust? God is unchanging. His love is unfailing.

Period.

All the vulnerabilities of falling in love are wrapped up in the arms of His love. Love we can run to and find the fullness that will never be found in any other love. His love encompasses every human emotion we search for and beyond.

Jesus is the ultimate love.

“…I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love.
With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.”

-Jeremiah 31:3

“There is no greater love than to lay 
down one’s life for one’s friends.”

-John 15:13

Dedicated to my Forever Love … Chris

He taught me how to trust, how to fight through the vulnerabilities and keep our love strong, even in the midst of our most difficult situations. Above all, Chris always pointed me to Jesus, the Greatest Love of All.

*Special Thanks: Pixabay and Unsplash for use of all free images: Feature image: Photo Free for use under the Pixabay Content License. #1 Image by StockSnap on Pixabay #2 Image by drippycat on Pixabay #3 Image by aliceabc0 on Pixabay #4 Image by Cozy Intrigue, Frame Image by petra123 from Pixabay #5 Image by guvo59 on Pixabay Cozy Intrigue Cover Photo by Jill Wellington from Pixabay