Four Letter Word

     Love, by definition, cannot say “I love you, because...” unless it is followed by “you are a creation of God.” Any other statement would be internally inconsistent. Love for a person is solely unconditional, and cannot be retracted or extended because of that person's weaknesses, or much the harder, because of his strengths. For of course we love kindness and mercy and gentleness, but that is love for those characteristics, not love for the person himself. Again, love, by definition, is also a statement of action; we love someone by actively pursuing what is best for him. Thus, our actions ought to be the lover, and not what is beloved; expressions of love, not reasons for love; desire to love, not desire for love.

     In this selfless state, love is free of expectation, but full of hope. Love gives without boundaries, for it has no quantifier that can be attached to limit its depth, nor qualifier to dampen its spirits. Love acts and speaks without shame or fear of rejection, not by virtue of its strength, but by virtue of its transcendence. Love is not discrete, it cannot be counted or measured or spoken of in degrees. So when our love is weak in action, we do not love less, provided that our actions are still truly unconditional and disinterested. How great the bond which springs from this love, for the beloved ceases to strive and long for affection by struggling to appear worthy of love; instead, the beloved is known deeply and still fears not.

     I do not feel worthy of love, and yet I recognize that I have been declared worthy twice, first by the natural birth which signifies that God made me in His image, and then by the spiritual birth, attainable through the love action of Christ's death, which restored me once again to my Creator. The marvelous trait of love is that it fills the beloved with itself, and the beloved is humbly brought to love in the very same fashion, pouring back into the lover, but also into persons that are as discouraged and empty as the beloved once was.

Now, let it be known, I am loved and filled with love, for God is Love.