The great theologian Paul Tillich said:
FOR THOSE WHO LOVE, TIME IS ETERNITY. LOVE IS GOD’S FINGER ON MAN’S SHOULDER. LOVE IS LIKE A RUNNING BROOK THAT SINGS ITS MELODY TO THE NIGHT. TO WAKE AT DAWN WITH A WINGED HEART AND TO GIVE THANKS FOR ANOTHER DAY OF LOVING. LOVE IS A SYMBOL OF ETERNITY. IT WIPES OUT ALL SENSE OF TIME, DESTROYING ALL MEMORY OF A BEGINNING AND ALL FEAR OF AN END.
Brilliant and accurate. Paul then tells us that words without love are like sounding brass and tinkling cymbals. Hollow, meaningless, perhaps doing more harm than good. Better by far to LISTEN:
THE FIRST BEAUTY OF LOVE IS TO LISTEN. LISTENING, REALLY LISTENING IN A CARING WAY, MAY VERY WELL BE THE HIGHEST ATTRIBUTE OF TRUE LOVE.
More brilliant insightful words from theologian Paul Tillich. Real listening really is the highest attribute of true love, real love. We allow the heart of another to crack open, pour out, empty so that there is nothing left but love.
Paul then says the act of the will can motivate an individual to give to the poor, to tithe and use money well, or even give your body, to lay down your life for another. But if any or all of that is done without love no matter how good, Paul says without love it means little or nothing.
But love indeed is risky. The great writer C.S. Lewis said:
TO LOVE AT ALL IS TO BE VULNERABLE. LOVE ANYTHING AND YOUR HEART WILL CERTAINLY BE WRUNG AND POSSIBLY BROKEN. LOVE BREAKS DOWN ALL BARRIERS, OPENS WIDE THE HEART, EXPOSES TRUE INNOCENCE AND RISKS THE RINGING AND THE BREAKING OF THIS MORE PRIZED POSSESSION. REAL LOVE DEMANDS THIS, CONSTANTLY.
Sir Alfred Lord Tennyson said:
“Tis better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
Life without love is a life never really lived at all. “If you love until it hurts, really hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love,” said the wonderfully loving Mother Theresa. The Apostle Paul would fully agree.
Love is not jealous, said Paul. It envies no one or nothing. Rather, there is rejoicing when the very best things happen to others. And we in love can help them. The Poet Emily Dickenson said the following:
IF I CAN STOP ONE HEART FROM BREAKING
I SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN
IF I CAN EASE ONE LIFE THE ACHING
OR COOL ONE PAIN
OR HELP ONE FAINTING ROBIN
INTO HIS NEST AGAIN
I SHALL NOT LIVE IN VAIN!
So beautiful, and so true.
Love never controls. Rather, it lets go. It never holds on and it encourages others to be all they can be. Love is not possessive. If we love, we let those we love be perfectly themselves! We have no fear of hurt because of the actions of others. The more one loves, the less there is of which to be afraid.
And love is humble, says Paul. Never boastful or bragging. Love really has no ego. Love allows us to be about others more than ourselves. Content are we to be immersed in the love of God.
That allows us to live modestly, humbly and joyfully.
Then, Paul deals with anger and reminds us that love is not easily angered. Not that one never gets angry, for we do. But that anger is slow to occur, slow to wrath. Love allows us to be angry, but only in the extreme. Love allows us to turn the other cheek and move on, pressing on for the high calling. Love more than anything is powerful energy at work, always.
So remember, says Paul, that of faith, hope and love, love is the greatest. It is eternal, never-ending:
LOVE NEVER FAILS
And as one poet says:
LOVE IS THAT WHICH MAKES THE SKY BLUE, THE SUBSTANCE OF THE SONG OF THE BIRDS IN SUMMER, THE WHISPER OF THE WIND IN THE TREES, THE SILENCE OF THE SNOW AS IT FALLS. LOVE IS THE VOICE OF GOD CALLING TO US ENDLESSLY AND PASSIONATELY THROUGH ALL HIS MARVELOUS CREATION.
Love is everything said the writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, never self-possessed or prudent. LOVE IS ALL ABANDONMENT. Or as the Poet William Wordsworth said:
LOVE BETTERS WHAT IS BEST!
Does it ever.
We the Crawford Broadcasting Company hope for you the best, the greatest, love and especially the love of God. Live in love and share it, my fellow Americans. Open a cracked open heart to it. Feel the miracle, the energy and the power of love.
Those who love deeply never grow old. They may die of old age, but they die young at heart said Sir Arthur Pinero. But in death comes the completion of love:
KNOWING FACE TO FACE
That ultimate encounter with God the Creator and Jesus Christ:
ULTIMATE LOVE
What a day that will be.
Looking back, said one writer, I have this to regret. That too often when I loved, I did not say so. Love uncommunicated is love aborted. It is there but never shared. More time is spent judging people which leaves less time to love them.
Don’t be like him. Allow Valentine’s Day and Valentine’s week, the love days to be reminders of what really matters. For in the end, nothing matters but:
LOVE
Find out how much love your heart can hold!
