How Do I Love Thee, Let Me Count The Ways .....
So I was up way too late last night trying to figure out this thing called, "love."I know how to love God…. at least I think I do. I have a relationship with Him. I talk to him about anything, about everything. He is the only one who truly knows me inside and out; even more than I know myself. He knows my motives; my intentions; my crazy way of thinking. He knows ME. I am seeking to know Him. I have allowed Him into my heart to share an intimacy that none other can.
I love my husband. We too share an intimacy that cannot be duplicated. He knows me, knows my heart. I know him; his heart. We have experienced much of our lives together. Good times, bad times, ups, downs, ins, outs, been there done that, life together.......time together.
I love my kids… it goes without saying. I love my family, my friends. I know them. They know me. We share our joys, our struggles. We learn from each other. We laugh together, cry together, eat together, pray together, play together.
I get it. I know it. I feel it.
So what is it then, this "love" that I am trying to figure out?
How do I love those I don’t know? I know I am supposed to love “my neighbor.” Sure is easy to “say” I love them …..it’s just a word. But how do I honestly “really” love them …I mean without the relationship already built in and without just “doing” acts of kindness?
Or what about those I don’t necessarily like or have been hurt by or disagree with? I know we are commanded to love our enemies, but how, beyond the word? How can I love them deeply in my heart?
For me the love I experience has been built over time. With the exception of my kids, the loves in my life have been pursued; have been formed from a relationship. The only love I’ve ever known unconditionally, before I ever saw them or knew them, was my kids. I suppose the kind of love that our heavenly Father has for us.
So how do I have THAT kind of love for complete strangers, or my so called “enemies?” I don’t want to just say it, or do it, because I’m supposed to. I want to get it; know it; feel it.
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of everyday's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for Right;
I love thee purely, as they turn from Praise.
I love thee with a passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, --- I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life! --- and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death."
by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)
posted by Tracy @ 10:37 AM
8 Comments:
This is such and awesome post honey. Wow it blows my mind. I sent you and email this morning prior to reading this, you may get a little chuckle out of it. Anyway. The struggle with loving our enemies is one I consistantly tell myself "I'm just not there yet". But when? How long will I give myself that excuse, "well I just haven't learned to love my neighbors/enemies yet". Speaking it out loud, I think before I read your post, I would have given myself a pass on that quite possibly for the rest of my life. But that is not right. It's not what Jesus wants or asks from us. Well He does not even "ask". He clearly demands it. Thank you for sharing this with me, I want to learn this word "Love" with you. Can we do it together? I LOVE YOU!
:-)
Tracy! Awesome post! I was thinking the other day, about "love thy neighbor" and wondering if someone said to someone else (maybe my neighbors, having a dialogue) and one of them said, "you know, Michelle says she loves her neighbor," the other person would likely say one of two things, "she does, I'd never of guessed it by her actions," or "Michelle who?".....
My actions are not in line with my words, not nearly.....
this is my new test ~ really evaluate what those people would say about me? how does it line up? For me, not real good....working my way through and glad to have accountability with friends like the Baldwins!
I love the way you have put your feelings into words, Tracy. They cause me to ask myself questions that need to be asked. Thank you for this...
I have a hard time loving my enemies. I want to forgive, but it is hard especially when they don't forgive me. So having to love them while I know they cannot stand me is extra hard. How do you love someone you were hurt by or who you REALLY do not agree with? Excellent question Tracey! I hope we discover the answer together. Excellent post. I have no answers, but I do have the same questions!
tracy~~thanks for asking the tough questions and laying it out in a way that we can ask ourselves the tough q's too. great post!
I struggle with this idea too ..
I remember being in the Cheyenne house when Brian and Candace lived there and asking a similar question:
How can I love someone I don't even know?
Brian said, "Love the soul that is in the person."
Jesus is in our souls. The Word is inscribed on our hearts. That's why murder and rape and the Holocaust and those types of things are so abhorrent to us.
God's love is written on our hearts.
Even cannibals know what they do is wrong, because they have all kinds of special cleansing rituals before they perform their acts.
They know it's wrong because of the Creator.
For loving your enemies, I ran across a quote that sums it up the best for me:
Longfellow: "If we could read the secret history of our enemies, we should find in each man's life sorrow and suffering enough to disarm all hostility."
When someone treats you poorly, there is a reason why.
If you had that person's experience, it's possible that you would feel the same way they do -- act the same way they do.
We are all in the same boat -- we've all had horrible things in our lives that would drag us down into despair and anger.
Even your enemy.
If you could know all those things, you would see the soul of the person, and feel the pain and the loss, and come to some understanding of them through that experience.
And with that knowledge would come acceptance, and caring, and love.
I think that's what Longfellow was going for.
Powerful stuff.
Thanks, Tracy!
Dale
That's good Dale! Thank you everybody for sharing your honesty here too. It's always comforting to me knowing that we don't always have to have the answers, but that we shoud always be asking the questions and learning from the ONE we seek them from in the very many ways He provides to us.
Hey Ms. Tracy! I too struggle with that issue. I am always saying " Oh, I hate that person" and I am really trying hard to stop saying that because hate to me is just a word but to others I am really hurting them when I say it and I don't mean to. I know it hurts me when someone says that they hate me so please pray for me to stop saying that. Thanks for your prayers!
Jessi
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