What is love? It is neither an irrational feeling of infatuation nor a romantic delirium. It is something that has no beginning or end. It is not a “story” which has to be written within limits. It is sacrificial, it is a priceless gift, it keeps us grounded more than gravity, and is the very fabric of our beings—woven in us from the first breath of life and can be carried by the cross until we die. It is not a story, but a gift in reality if we accept it.

Love is the very essence of our beings — the reason we have life and hope. If you have ever had the opportunity on a midsummer’s midnight to lie in the grass and peer up at the stars, you may have marveled at the beauty of the skies or how small you feel. Driving in the winter, I roll my windows down all the way. I love to take in the freshness of the crisp air and hear the sounds of the season. It might be a crazy idea to do so in the tundra, but it is such a wondrous beauty to me. I look at the world around me and can never fully take in all its splendors. I can’t help myself from seeing the Creator’s autograph in the designs of snowflakes, the turn of the tides, the bright lights of meteor showers, the peaks of mountain cliffs, the rush of a thunderstorm, and the rest of earth’s wonders. In no way or form could I ponder this life without seeing where all credit is due. If a “Big Bang” could craft such beauty, would the burst of bombs create world wonders? If such beauty can be made without intelligence, then why can’t man in his intelligence create something a thousand-fold better? Alpha and Omega, beginning and end, is the name of the Lord. We cannot match his magnificence because through him come all things magnificent.

So where in all of this does love come in, if it so does? In Christ, all things have being. Christ made us in his image and likeness, to have free will in a perfect world. Free will gave us the ability to choose sin over our love relationship with God. Each man and woman is born into this fallen world, with the free will to accept the love of the Lord. In accepting his love, we accept that he sent his only Son to be the final and complete sacrifice for our sins, we accept that our forgiveness draws us back to God and reconciles our relationship with the Father, and we accept that his love fills our hearts with a hope and direction toward heaven. That love pours through our lives, filling the darkest spaces, secrets, and sins with a light that shines for all eternity. This love is what brings us into being, binds our broken hearts, accepts every flaw, makes beauty from ashes, leads our lives to great blessings, leads us to an earthly love, and proclaims redemption until we enter into eternity. This love is out of this world, shown in the world but not of the world. This is Alpha and Omega’s love, as far as the east is from the west, setting us free from the chains of darkness and leading us home to the light.

XOXO,
Rae