A Call for Love

August 10, 2022

By Melissa Hinz

Midweek Musings is a weekly Covenant blog with a variety of authors and a variety of topics.

I am "that person" who reads a quote that they like and then jots it down somewhere so that they can continually reread it; allow it to percolate and permeate. I have a quote by Marianne Williamson on a notecard which is taped to my desk. I do not know who she is, but her words are meaningful to me.

To give and receive love is the basis of our existence. Love can be a blessing and bring such joy! Love can hurt to the depths of our souls. Love can be the source of forgiveness and redemption.

Some days are hard. Some people are hard. Sometimes it is difficult to hold on to the truth of God’s word – and especially hard to live it.

To give love can be easy, but sometimes the choice to love others is hard…really hard. It requires us to dig deep and call upon the Lord’s strength to love others as the Lord loves them. We are called to acknowledge each other’s faults and choose to forgive the mistakes, remembering that we, too, have done things that have been hurtful and harmful to others. In that love, in that forgiveness is redemption for us and for them.

And then...there is the need for us to be loved.

Anyone remember that iconic line from the movie Notting Hill (1999) with Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant? (click link below for clip)

“I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love her.”

While this situation is specific to romantic love, the desire to be loved by others is comprehensive and real. We spend our lives seeking the love and approval of other people, and we work to accumulate things, to look a certain way and to achieve a status that might make us more appealing to others. We feel we must prove ourselves to others because we feel we are unworthy of love as we are.

Here is the GOOD NEWS for the day...

We are loved – completely, unabashedly! God loves us – ALL of us. Just as we are. No exclusions, no exceptions!

And, not only that, God wants to be loved by us! God desires to have a relationship with each of us and sends the Holy Spirit to pursue us.

Here is my prayer for you today:

May you know love today, offered and received.

(Williamson is an American author, spiritual leader, and political activist according to Wikipedia.)