HOW’S YOUR LOVE LIFE?

Oh, I’m not talking about romance here…

I was sitting on the beach this afternoon, a range of thoughts and emotions coursing through me, as I tried to assimilate some of what occurred at yesterday’s inner city prayer meeting.  A number of scenes flashed in my mind, but I knew there was a thread that ran throughout----that thread was LOVE.

Joni Mitchell’s old song flitted through my mind,  ‘I've looked at love from both sides now,  From give and take, and still somehow, It's love's illusions I recall.  I really don't know love at all.’ 

Or, do I?  Joni Mitchell was right—love is about give and take; it is about ups and downs . . . yesterday, I experienced all of that. 

When I first arrived in Long Beach, absent was my big smiling friend, Robby; we’ve had a connection since first we met.  ‘Found out he’d been arrested for ‘possession, with intent…’    I felt like I’d been hit in the solar plexus …arrested?  This man who started my music, made sure I got safely to my car, prayed like a saint … arrested?  I felt my eyes sting with tears, but I couldn’t cry, it was time to focus my street friends on the Lord, and get to prayin’.  But when I had the time to think, I realized that it was only because I had grown to love Robby, that I could be hurt by his actions.  To love means to risk.

The crew straggled in one-by-one, and my ‘main men’ were all there.  We were probably about halfway into our prayer time when there was a loud, sickening thud outside our basement door; a woman had fallen down the stairs, and she landed absolutely motionless.  Honestly, I feared she was dead, as she lay there completely still.  Folks got up to move to her, but the one that ministered to her was the Duke of Earl.  ‘Remember him?  I told you about him recently—a very large, strong, black man with serious eyes that told many tales.  The blood pooled from her head, but the Duke just calmly called for a towel; he wiped her snotty nose, he tried to mop up the blood, always keeping one reassuring hand on the woman’s arm.  She was breathing, thankfully, and someone called for an ambulance. I stood behind the Duke, rubbing his back, and then led us all in prayer for our fallen sister.  I will never forget seeing the Duke take care of her until the professionals came and took her away for treatment. LOVE . . . compassion in action—the Duke.

As we resumed, I asked the group what they needed God to do for them . . . what were their needs??  Off to the far right, Bernard stood to his feet.  “Bernard, do you have something to say?”  “No, MaMa Christine . . . I stand because we are praying.”  Bernard is from Cameroon—a medical doctor who speaks five languages.  Several weeks ago, in a quiet moment, he broke out in a sacred refrain, which he sung in Latin.  While Bernard is brilliant, he has been on the streets for years, unable to get away from the almighty bottle.  Bernard has the utmost reverence for God; he loves the Lord.  LOVE . . . there it was again. 

At their request, we prayed for their families, we prayed for places to live, and yes, at the Duke’s suggestion, we prayed for our wounded sister.  Actually, I asked him if he would lead us in prayer for her; he raised his eyebrows, hesitated, and then removed his cap, and prayed one beautiful prayer.

I have such a strong love for these people, though I have only known them a short time.  This week I ran headlong into the down side of loving, and realized the risk, the hurt.  C.S. Lewis wrote:

“Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket—safe, dark, motionless, airless—it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.”  But then… guess what?  You will not have known love.  Love involves risk, or it isn’t love.

I thought then about how God loves you and me.  Risk?  Oh, yeah, and a whole lot more … total sacrifice, in Jesus.  And the thing is—the way God loves us—well, he never gives up on us.  Scripture says ‘the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases.’  His steadfast love endures forever--240 times that is stated in the psalms. 

God’s love sustains us and forgives us,

            when we fall, he picks us up, dusts us off,

                        and causes us to stand once more.

So, how’s your love life?  In your life, what are you risking, for love’s sake?  To whom are you extending the love of God?  Think on these things . . .

Christine