To love is to risk

One of the hardest things for me to wrap my mind around is the call to love others.  Not because this is hard for me to do but because to love is to risk.

We are commanded to love God and to love others.

To love God is easier than loving others, as he is perfect and worthy of love. To surrender our lives to God is love.   And yet to surrender is to risk.  In my staff group we are working our way through the book Surrender to Love: Discovering the Heart of Christian Spirituality.  It is through love that we are able and should surrender.

But to love is to risk.

Its crazy to think about how much we are capable of loving.  So many times in my life I have said my heart is all over the country.  Wherever a family member or friend lives there my heart is.  I think if that is true, then I have loved well.  And yet in loving well it will inevitably be that my heart is broken with loss and grief at some point in my life.

I was blessed with the opportunity to go to California about a month ago to surprise my older sister (and in the process see one of my younger sisters who lives in Arizona). Family love, sibling love, and more specifically sister love is so important to me.  Its easy to love and forgive within a family unit, it is usually the safest place.

Three days later, my best friend from college came to visit for a long weekend. This August marks 9 years since I first met Lynda.  5.5 of those years we have not lived in the same state but have been blessed to visit each other and continue our friendship.

Just last week my other younger sister stopped through for a night on her way to a wedding. And at the end of September Brian and I will go to visit her in Florida for a weekend.

And yet the pain from loving AJ so much and then losing him can never be replaced with or by my love for others.  And as much as my heart was full with love and shared time with those I love over the last few weeks, the portion of my heart that will always be my little brother's is missing still.

Love is hard.  And to truly love is to risk greatly.  But love does not disappoint even if the world disappoints.  No matter the heartache from old friends of mine with whom I have grown a part or from the loss of a loved one or friend, love is worth it.  I pray that I would continue to love  more deeply now.

Love those that God has placed before you.  And may you find great joy in knowing your heart is all over the country and possibly the world. Don't let your hearts become hardened and bitter. Go and love. And when necessary grieve, because to love is to risk.
 
"There is a sacredness in tears. They are not the mark of weakness but of power. They speak more eloquently than ten thousand tongues. They are messengers of overwhelming grief and unspeakable love." -Washington Irving