Love
is perhaps life’s greatest mystery. Where does it come from? How do
we participate in it? Why does it sometimes fail? What does it have to
do with feelings? Mysteries are important because they point us toward
God.
I
do not know the answer to any of these enduring questions about love. I
do know that I was surrounded by it last weekend. And I am convinced
that there is no greater pointer to God than human love.
I
once heard someone say that parents love their children not so that
their children will love them, but so that their children will love
their children. I might add to that “and others.” And last weekend I
saw all my dreams as Andrew’s dad come true as he married Jessica, whom
he clearly loves. One day, should they choose and God will, they will
be wonderful parents. In the meantime, they will be building a life
together.
An
old friend called last week about marrying his long-time partner in New
York. It is something he sadly cannot do in Georgia. I helped just a
little in facilitating that. In like manner, couples flocked to city
halls in California to make lifelong commitments to one another in light
of the Supreme Court’s rulings last week. It makes me happy that my
son’s marriage is starting in a world in which marriage is less and less
the privilege of some to the exclusion of others, so different from the
world in which his mother and I were married 34 years ago. Far from
detracting from his marriage, it makes it even more complete for when
justice is
denied to some, it is denied to us all. Justice, like love, made itself
better known this weekend, and that also is of God. But most
importantly, witnessing justice come to be was also a glimpse of love
prevailing against its adversaries, the kingdom of God drawing near.
This
weekend was not only a celebration of the love of husbands and of
wives. I was at least as aware of the love that surrounded all of this
weekend, family and friends who made the journey because they loved us,
and others who could not be there in person but held us in prayer. It
was, once again, a glimpse of the kingdom in a celebration of human
love.
I
do not know the answers to the mysteries of love, but I’m pretty sure
that God stands behind them and that the more we live into the mystery,
the more God is known. Love, I think, begins and ends in God. The more
unconditional it is, the closer God is and the more easily seen. John
the Evangelist put it this way: “No one has ever seen God; if we love
one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 Jn. 4:12).
It is as if God is the sun and we are the moon, reflecting, even dimly,
God’s brilliant love, which is the origin of our own. Our love, in the
end, is not about us at all. It is all about
God.
This was a weekend of experiencing that for me. I am very grateful.
Peace,
+Stacy
