Love

Last updated on: March 18, 2009 at 8:46 am by Amy Julia Becker

Love 2009-03-18T08:46:00-04:00 Amy Julia Becker

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Love is difficult. Much as I long to love others and be loved in return, now that I have children, I very much understand that love is messy and challenging and there are days when I think I can’t do it anymore.
I’m not talking about Hallmark card love, about hearts or kisses or sentimental words. Abstract love—love as a concept—that I can do. It’s easy to walk into Penny’s room before I go to bed and gaze at her asleep—notice how her chest rises and falls, her hair spread out upon her pillow. It’s easy to tuck her back under the covers, find Mr. Bear and put him nearby. And it’s easy to feel a great surge of love inside my chest at that moment. Or with William—when he looks at me and smiles, with that high –pitched giggle erupting and his eyes lit up. Love is easy then.
But. When Penny has just scowled and said, “No!” or when I’ve turned my back and then discover she discreetly poured applesauce into her lap, when I ask her to help clean up the blocks and she dumps them on the floor, when she totters over to William and pushes him onto his back, when she whines, “Penny all done nap,” before it has even started, when William wakes up shrieking in the middle of the night—love is much harder in those moments.
I am grateful to have a God who does more than love me in the abstract. A God who does not simply gaze in upon me from afar and feel something vague and warm and fuzzy about my life. The mystery of the Incarnation means many things, but among them it means that God loves concretely—by coming into our corporeal world, our physical reality, the blood and sweat and tears and dirt of human existence. God has loved me, through Jesus, in the utterly mundane moments—the tantrums, the whining and pushing, the skinned knees.
I want to receive this tangible love that God offers through Jesus, and I want that love to transform me into someone who loves as he does—with patience and kindness and gentleness and truth. So far, I still have trouble loving people, even (especially?) my own children, and especially when it is messy. But it is in the mundane and messy stuff of life—cleaning a kitchen counter and picking clothes off the floor and wiping a snotty nose—that the refining of my spirit happens. It is there that I glimpse God’s love for me. And it is there that I am, I pray, transformed into one who truly loves, even as I am truly loved.

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 23, 2009

Furlough

Next Post

April 23, 2009 Righteousness

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Articles Books Disability Down Syndrome Faith family Perfectly Human Uncategorized

Select a Month February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 September 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz