Love & Chocolate

Jon McLaughlin has a line in his song "Smack into You"(which is less hilarious than the title suggests).  It goes like this:

Head down as I watch my feet take turns hitting the ground
eyes shut, I find myself in love racing the Earth
and I'm soaked in your love
and love is right in my path, in my grasp.

Lately, on this journey, as I've been watching my feet hit the ground the theme has been love.  Unconditional.  Necessary.  Practical.  Love is right in my path.  And I find myself surrounded by people who need it.  Who want it.  People I need to pour into.  Where I get tired and think that maybe I can retreat, God taps me on the shoulder and gives me more of them.  The tension for me in this is how, practically to love and give without trying to make myself God in their lives or creating codependent relationships.

And the longer I've been running this race of life and Jesus the more apparent it's become to me as Scripture takes on bones and flesh in the realities of now, that everything boils down to love.  The way we live.  The way we react to hurt.  The way we react to selfishness in ourselves.  The way I make choices about what I do and what I say.  Lately the words of Jesus about love being the greatest commandment, and love your enemies, and be sincere in your love, and all of 1 Cor 13 has opened up and taken on new depths of meaning.  New depths of reality.

It's like you know intellectually that 2+2=4.  But math is not reality until you have 2 pieces of chocolate and really want 2 more and then the joy of having 4 pieces of chocolate hits you.  It all makes sense.  :)

And so if I take love in my grasp and walk it out,  it will require a lot of cross carrying.  Which makes much more sense in this upside down kingdom of God than you would think.  Love according to the world we live in means receiving what makes you feel good.  Love according to the upside down kingdom means giving what is good for the one you love.  Whether it feels good or not.

I wish I had a piece of chocolate. ;)