Dear Love,
You said don’t say a word,
Let them rest,
Covered in these layers of cloth, comfort at its best,
Winter days, monsoon rains,
There for all those camps during sunny Mays
You cued me to be quiet again,
I wondered how You can love the reason why You were slain,
Your love that does not allow a pint of discomfort,
Love that is sensitive to the hearts that are hurt,
Love that protects from all harsh weather,
Love through sickness, heals every pain,
Love that gently touches, Love that takes effort,
Love that pacifies, Love, also called Shepherd,
Love that said, “Let them rest!”
Indeed Your love is the best comfort ever.
Love,
The Blanket
Footnotes:
It takes very little to get me irritated—anything and everything is a trigger. A taunt, a comparison or even a pathetic joke—it got my blood boiling at times. I wanted to be taken seriously. This often gave me the feeling that everyone around me is being unfair to me. I hated it. But little did I know that “not getting exasperated” is a discipline and it takes effort—and it takes a lot of Love. Realization hit me like a speeding train when I got married. New people, new culture and new family dynamics—I was overwhelmed.
Justin’s family often joked about things but never meant any form of putdown. However, I often took it all as a personal blow. Maybe it was the emotional baggage of hurt that I carried into the marriage, maybe it was lack of understanding or maybe it was my denial mode that was turned on for some reason. There were moments when I looked askance at my husband and his family. And guess what I saw—a simulacrum of my painful past. I began to bleed hurt on everyone around me.
I have often wished for a do-over when it comes to my meet and greet with Justin’s family. But I needed this wide-window view of my attitude and, trust me, the sight wasn’t pretty to say the least. I was, what they call—“touchy!”.
The original Greek word rendered in the King James Version is “provoked”. The term literally means “to sharpen” but figuratively, it means to bring to a state of exasperation. So, the verse “Love does not exasperate” means that those who love do not excite others to anger or cause them to be enraged. And, those who love also are not excited to anger or enraged at the words or actions of others. So, in short, those who embody true love should never be enraged with another. Was my love not true? I wondered. It may have been sincere and true but it wasn’t unconditional. It wasn’t Christ-like.
Can I, like the blanket, bring about warmth in the way I associate with people? The kind that still pours out love even when treated poorly? Can my love be constant through every high and low, every season, storm or snow? It can but only through Jesus. For me to get to that level of unconditional love, I have to first know that I am loved by God unconditionally, and I should also take effort to grow in love with God. The more I know Him, the more I love Him.
The formula is quite simple to say. Emphasis on ‘say’.
Know that you’re loved by God + Grow in love for God = Live in Love with God and others
My biggest problem was “I always felt unloved.” I have known God for a while now and I also know that He loves me dearly but somehow, I wanted to feel it tangibly, hear and see it. “Doubting Thomas” you may say. But I needed this. Little did I know that I hear, see and feel it every day—my heartbeat. It is His breath in my lungs—I had taken the idea of breathing for granted. The irony is that, I have suffered from childhood asthma which later on doused and came up as a milder form of allergic wheezing. After so many episodes of wheezing, I still took breathing for granted. I took my heartbeat for granted. God, very recently, opened my eyes to it after someone very close to me was put on a ventilator. God kept my heart beating despite my reckless behaviour. In my times of anger, my heart kept beating; in my times of exasperation, it kept beating. And no, I do nothing for it to keep beating—completely involuntarily.
So, I urge you to tap into the complete potential of your love—unconditional love! And when in doubt, listen to your heartbeat—He tunes the rhythm of your heart, and that, my friend, is LOVE.