Love Is

We use love in many of our sayings.

We attach love to all kinds of emotions and feelings.

We believe we love others when we are satisfied in the ways we order them to our world.

We do these things believing we know what love is.

We do these things believing we are in control.

It is a natural thing I suppose to try to control the very thing we desire most, because in some ways, we want to believe that having control will make us safe and secure.  Safe from pain and free from feeling empty.

But somehow we know better.  Somehow deep down we know that love can’t be caught and controlled.  Rather, it is love that catches us.

It is during these moments that we are reminded again of its unpredictability, power, and demands.  Sacrifice.  Dying.  Surrendering.  Humility.  Forgiveness.  All of these things are demanded when we are caught.  And yet, through these demands it produces something more.  Loneliness.

A loneliness necessary for hope to be born.

The fruits of this loneliness help to strip away our feelings, our selfishness, our security, and our ego, leaving us vulnerable.  Leaving us at the mercy of what love really is.

It is here that we hope that the terrible ache becomes the grounds for the beautiful to blossom.  It is here that we hope that the sharp agony becomes the avenue for the journey to continue.

For in the end we are left with what is.

I am.

You are.

And Love is.

My heart leans heavy

on barren things

that can’t support

the pain it sings.

Its arms must hug

the rocks

on shore,

while its feet

dance

the ocean floor.

Through salty water

swallowed at birth

its tongue must taste

the salt of earth.

It’s ears,

submerged,

must hear the sigh

of sunken treasures’

daily try.

Its eyes must see

a final place

where running tears

can win the race.

“Heart Sense in Deep Water”

– Rita A. Simmonds