Dear Love,
I keep going round and round,
Every motion, valuable count,
There are two others in the house,
Not very agile, neither too loud.
I stimulate motion each time I pass the longer one,
Making the shorter one move a bit too,
But never do I dash or try to overpower them,
Neither do I look down when they slowly move,
Bolted together, we function like a crew,
No collision, no spiteful hue,
24×7, every moment, new,
I manage to get a glance every minute or two.
Your Love like me doesn’t stop,
All day, all night like a watchful cop,
Love that was bolted to a tree,
Nailed to You were sins and men who had to be set free,
Destroyed sin and its decree,
You never looked down on men or their efficiency,
Perfect love that casts out fear, deeper than the deepest sea.
Love,
The Second Hand of the Clock
Footnotes:
When is evil usually plotted? Whenever there is more than one person!—a team. The best example of teamwork that we get to see in our daily lives, is the clock. It is fascinating how the three hands work without competing against the other—a rhythm, a pace, a synchronised motion. But how often do we see this in real life? I have always liked to work alone but when I joined the local newspaper company as a subeditor, I had to work with a team to produce the daily paper. We had to work against strict deadlines every day; it was mentally and physically taxing, to say the least. But, even though my colleagues and I were working together as a team, there were points of conflict, disunity and, sometimes, envy in our relationship dynamics. There were times when I was thrown under the bus for things I did not do and it made me wonder if I liked being in a team. I always felt like the other is plotting evil against me—in short, I was paranoid about everything.
Recently, I read a commentary of the verse “love thinks no evil”. The meaning is, either that one possessed of this grace of love does not think of the evil done to him by another; he forgives as God has forgiven him. It is to forget the injury caused by the evil and remember it no more. WOW! How difficult can that be? But this is the standard of Christ-like love.
I remember an instance when one of my senior editors dumped his mistake on me and I was manipulated into believing that it was my mistake. I had to write an apology letter to the editor-in-chief for this particular mistake tagged under the category, “carelessness”. I became so vengeful towards this person and wished the worst to happen to him. Yes, I was wrong and I knew it deep down. Two months down the lane, this person got fired for some other reason and I almost did a victory dance. I even said, “Thank you Lord!”. But the Holy Spirit convicted me that I was wrong to even think that way. As a journalist, I had an appetite for scandal at the time and I even spiritualised my case by saying that the Lord exposed him. Now that I think of it, I was so shallow! There was nothing Christ-like love in my thoughts or words. I sort of thrived on the conversational garbage about this person because he had wronged me at some point. During that time, I heard a sermon by a man of God who said, “we continue to love and pray until the worst is gone and the best comes back! This is what ‘love thinks no evil’ truly means!”
This also draws parallels to “loving unconditionally”—even when one brings a bad report about the other, we still choose to love. This is the standard that Jesus set for us. Being fully human and fully God, he did it. And though it is difficult, we are called to follow His footsteps. Having said that, Christian love is not blind or naïve—God gives us the wisdom to discern between what is right and wrong. As a matter of fact, walking in love resolves a lot of issues; it eliminates comparison, negative competition and, most of all, envy.
Love always gets the truth and wants the best for others. Love cannot thrive on lies, gossip and paranoia. It grows on truth, honesty and sincerity. Let us try to see the best in others even when it seems hard. I know that love cannot be manufactured but love grows as we keep our lives clean and refuse to think evil of others. As we pray and worship God, as we serve others, we experience a growing love in the Lord. You will surely feel the difference. People might have wronged you or hurt you; maybe they have a bad report—we see not the ugliness of the flaws but the beauty of the person.
Remember to fight the battle, not the person—only love for the person. Or don’t fight at all, because the Lord is fighting for you.