What's Love Got To Do, Got To Do With It?

 

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

Good morning!  This is my third attempt at writing a blog so far and I thought it was going to go one way but it didn’t.  I thought it might go down another path but that too was a dead end.  As I began this one, I thought I was on the right track but just received a message from a friend who wrote of a loved one’s condition and in that message there were these two words--words that I had been considering anyways but wanted to keep this blog light and airy today rather than sad and melancholy, so I put them on the back burner, saving them for another day.

Okay then, let’s see how this one goes, Stef.

Bruised heart.

Those were the two words she wrote.  

A couple of days ago my heart--nay, my soul!--was hurting.  I had been invited to a celebration ceremony where many hard-working kids were about to be rewarded for their diligence in their studies for the past school year.  So many proud parents, grandparents, and other caretakers (hmn, that’s an interesting word:  caretakers.  It implies ones who take care, right?  Keep that in mind as you continue reading.) were on hand to see their precious child(ren) receive ribbons and certificates.  Cameras abounded and the gymnasium was...well, it wasn’t as full as when other types of programs went on, but perhaps that was because this order of events was limited to a certain sect of the whole population.

Or was it something else?

As I gazed about the mostly cheerful faces, I noticed something missing.  Perhaps I should say I noticed someone missing.  Where was that one’s dad?  And that kid over there--where was her adoring fan club?  The little kid beside me who kept talking about her daddy really broke my heart because, you see, daddy and mommy were no longer a pair but apart.  Why didn’t he come to see his kids be rewarded, even if it meant sitting on the opposite side of the gym?

Trying to focus on the good that was going on, I purposed myself to pay attention to the better things.  So many achievements by so many students!  How wonderful to see their love for knowledge and to hear of their excellence.  But then, as I listened closely, maybe not by so many after all.  It seemed like I kept hearing a lot of the same names called, just for different categories.  I watched the faces of the classmates as their peer’s name was called.  Some smiled as they shared the pride of knowing that was their friend who was getting an award.  Some clapped enthusiastically when the child’s name was read out.  One parent was quite exuberant in his excitement over what his son had accomplished and let out a huge “Whoop!” which was soon mimicked by the toddlers around me who were getting bored by this time.

But then there were the students who just sat there with blank looks upon their faces.  They knew they were just there because, well, they were just there.  Nothing special was going to happen to them and they knew it.  No awards were coming their way and they knew this as well.  No one was going to take their picture as their hands were shaken and ribbons placed around their necks.  Un unh.  Pats on the backs and words of “Well done!” or “Excellent job” and mostly “I’m so proud of you!” would not be spoken about them.  Getting that one certificate of promotion to the next grade was all that was in their future.

Sigh.

Bruised heart.

Hurting soul.

When do kids lose it?  When do they lose the favor of the ones who brought them into this world?  When did they lose the attention span of the adults who used to hang on their every word, their every achievement as they learned to speak, to walk, to run, to read, to jump, to sing, to learn?  When did mom and dad turn their focus away and basically left the kids to their own devices?  When did the caretakers stop taking care?

Sigh.

Bruised hearts.  Hurting souls.  

Someone used to sing to them “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine.  You make me happy when skies are grey.  You’ll never know, dear, how much I love you.  Please don’t take my sunshine away.”  When did their light stop shining?  When did the parents stop looking for that light and instead choose to live in the dark?

At the start of this blog, I quoted from First Corinthians.  My meme featured a verse about the same topic.  Love.  The title of my blog asks what love has to do with it.  And though it’s been a scattered essay, I leave you with this question:  are you loving today?  Are you truly loving or are you just making noise that you are a good parent, a true friend, a considerate person, or are you just performing when it makes you look good to the world rather than to the one who needs you the most?  Those kids shouldn’t have had to had sad faces and gone home without ribbons around their necks.  They shouldn’t have had to try to find things to amuse themselves with while their friends were being photographed and fawned over.  They didn’t have to maybe collect the awards they did receive and tuck them carelessly in their backpacks to maybe show off later--the next time they got to see mom or dad...whenever that might be.  They didn’t have to not know love.  Their hearts didn’t have to be bruised nor their souls filled with anguish.  They’re just kids!  They didn’t ask to be brought into this world but here they are, waiting to be loved, waiting to be someone’s sunshine.  Let’s not leave them in the dark, friends.  May we all love in deed and in truth is my prayer, my plea, asked in the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Back to school time!

I Peter 1: 24-25 "For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man as the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away:

But the word of the Lord endureth for ever. And this is the word which by the gospel is preached unto you."

Good morning!  It's coming.  The end of summer.  The start of fall.  You can feel it in the air and you can see it in nature.  The grass isn't needing to be mowed each week.  The fruits on the vine are not as fruitful.  The flowers are giving it all they've got but...but seasons change.  The nights are not as bright and don't seem to linger like they did a month or so ago.

We can't fight change.  The kids have to start back to school and the leisurely summer days are dwindling down.  If we aren't careful and don't prepare ourselves, we will find a hectic pace awaits us as we battle the clock to get them to school on time, to get ourselves to work without battling the extra traffic, and we will find ourselves harried as we struggle to do more in shorter amounts of time.

Why do things have to change?  Why can't it just be summer forever?  Why does man get to mandate when the kids are to be educated and playtime is only for a couple of months in the year?  I guess it's so we will appreciate those vacations, those breaks, and those times of refreshment.  If, for example, kids went to school from January to October, then that means they'd have the winter off.  For many, that would mean more indoor time, less exploring outside, and fewer ways to entertain one's self.  The days are much shorter so the bodies wouldn't be so tightly wound as the natural order of rest affected us.  No crops are growing then so it would just be a great time to refresh and to rest, right?

Sigh.  There are many reasons that this idea wouldn't work.  And just because it might make sense to me does not imply that it is the best way to go anyways.

The grass withers.  It gets hot and dry because of the constant shining of the sun and the heat of the day upon it.  This causes the flowers to fade also.  Their brilliance is diminished as their roots begin to lose the vitality they had in the earlier days of spring.  All flesh is like grass and our glory is like that of the flowers. We come to the ends of our ropes and eventually we will just drift on off.  Our works and the things done in the flesh will burn up and what will remain?

The Word of God will.  The lessons we teach our children and friends will go on.  They will not be lessened nor return void.  They will endure.  They will last.  Their beauty will never fade.  

Too many of us, though, seem to throw in the towel too early.  When it gets hot, we quit trying.  When it gets dry, we don't seek refreshment from other sources, such as church and other ministries.  We hibernate in the fall and winter months and burrow in our comfy yet staid homes.  We exist but we don't live to the fullest.

Even though this blog today seems a bit depressing, I want to encourage you to consider that the coming months don't have to be ones of drudgery.  Just because more rules are in effect and are trying to mandate when we can relax and when we have to work doesn't mean that there can't still be joy, that there still can't be great times.  Seasons change and there are times appointed for all things under the sun.  Allow the coming months to be times of harvesting.  Our work is not done, friends.  There is still so much to do!  Don't fade and wither:  shine and stretch, stretch your arms out to our Father in glory, and let Him continue working in you to do His good pleasure.  I know He's still working on me.  Will You allow him to perfect you as well?

Let's pray!

Lord, I hope this had made some sense, for as I am writing it and reflecting upon it, it has me all confused.  I don't even have kids that go back to school nor a job to go to so the rat race that is about to ensue next week doesn't really affect me.

Ugh.  Do what You can with my words, Lord, and help them to encourage others to keep persevering for You, to keep teaching their children about You, and to keep serving You regardless of how much daylight there is.  As for me?  Well, You've got Your hands full trying to straighten me out!  But I'm willing, Lord, for You to work in me.  I'm waiting, Father, for Your call.  I'm here, God.  Do with me what You will so that I may be fruitful and shine for You is my prayer.  Amen.