love in improper perspective

The Word for today:
Revelation 2:1-7

American poet John Greenleaf Whittier wrote,

"For of all sad words of tongue or pen,
the saddest are these: 'It might have been!' "

I can't hear rhyme without rhyming back, so...

Please pardon me, for I don't agree.
Sadder yet are the words, 'What used to be.'
I don't miss things that might have been;
I never saw their day.
What I miss most are things that were,
but then they went away.

Over the course of the next week, we're going to be reading Jesus' letters to the churches. The letters have spiritual significance, and even historical significance. But more than anything, they have personal significance. So we're going to take them personally.

In the first of the letters, written to the church at Ephesus, Jesus laments a love, once strong, that went wrong:

You are patient, you have suffered for my sake, and you have not given up.
But this is what I have against you: you do not love me now as you did at first. (Revelation 2:3-4)

***

Take these words to your heart. If they apply to you, then turn them around:

Look how far you have fallen from your first love! Turn back to me again and do the things you did at first. (Revelation 2:5)

If they don't apply right now, then be warned that love left untended can deteriorate to this. So don't you let it. Guard and cherish the love you first had. Be diligently, vigilantly, even militantly faithful to God.

And by all means strive to get a little stupid over love. God doesn't cherish our towering intellects, our elegant refinement, or our prudent discretion. What he prizes are hearts too eager to please, emotions too vulnerable, and raw infatuation worn on the sleeve.

So wear his favorite color. Sing his favorite songs. Rhyme with all the things he says. Laugh at all of his jokes. Carve his initials on a tree. Buy him a gift. Make him a gift. Write sweet, silly notes, underlining every word. Spend too much of your money on him. Spend too much of your time with him. Look for opportunities to be alone. Let things get way out of hand,

just like it used to be.

And should Mom caution you to keep things in proper perspective, you'll know your first love has awakened.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~