Through all of this, some things lived on. The love of family, a desire to be free, the choice of belief, and the love of the land.”
–Bobby Cavazos (The Cowboy From the Wild Horse Desert)
“We love Him because He first loved us.”
–1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
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Several years back, Tom T. Hall wrote a song titled “I Love.” It was very simple and one of the verses went like this,
“I love honest open smiles,
Kisses from a child,
Tomatoes on a vine,
And onions.”
He even threw in one phrase that he loved “coffee in a cup.” How about that? Simple things to love.
Through the years there have been multiple thousand poems and songs about love. Perhaps you recall the sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace…”
Love, something we all wish we had. Love, something that is truly mysterious. Love, a term we throw around. There’s first love, puppy love, romantic love, and steadfast love. Love of people, places, and things. Love of a friend, love of a family member, but love for an enemy; well, that’s just taking love too far.
A woman says to her husband, “I love you,” which makes him smile and if he’s not dead, the heart to flutter. Then the next day they are out shopping and she holds up a pair of shoes and utters, “I just love these shoes.” Hmmm… Is she comparing her husband to a pair of shoes? I remember walking down a school hallway one day years ago when an individual walked by and said, “Love you, brother.” I stopped to watch him continue walking and thought, “Love? He doesn’t even know my name, how can he say he loves me?” Now, I know that God can put in our hearts the love for others, and we should pray for that love, but sometimes there are folks out there that are hard to love.
Back to Tom T. Hall’s song–what do I love? I love Annie’s pie; I love coffee; I love a trout on the end of a line in a high mountain lake; I love watching the kids unwrap presents; I love the taste of a good, tender, juicy steak; I love the aroma of baking bread; I love the sound of the crack of a bat hitting a baseball; I love when a person succeeds, and I could go on. But isn’t that all superficial love?
Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners. He gave His life for us undeserving as we were. To answer Browning, nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing…” None of those things can separate us from the gracious love of God.
When I think of love, I think of my wife and family, then I think of the chorus of that grand hymn,
“O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure–
The saints’ and angels’ song.”
–Frederick M. Lehman
–1 John 4:19 (NKJV)
———————————-
Several years back, Tom T. Hall wrote a song titled “I Love.” It was very simple and one of the verses went like this,
“I love honest open smiles,
Kisses from a child,
Tomatoes on a vine,
And onions.”
He even threw in one phrase that he loved “coffee in a cup.” How about that? Simple things to love.
Through the years there have been multiple thousand poems and songs about love. Perhaps you recall the sonnet by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace…”
Love, something we all wish we had. Love, something that is truly mysterious. Love, a term we throw around. There’s first love, puppy love, romantic love, and steadfast love. Love of people, places, and things. Love of a friend, love of a family member, but love for an enemy; well, that’s just taking love too far.
A woman says to her husband, “I love you,” which makes him smile and if he’s not dead, the heart to flutter. Then the next day they are out shopping and she holds up a pair of shoes and utters, “I just love these shoes.” Hmmm… Is she comparing her husband to a pair of shoes? I remember walking down a school hallway one day years ago when an individual walked by and said, “Love you, brother.” I stopped to watch him continue walking and thought, “Love? He doesn’t even know my name, how can he say he loves me?” Now, I know that God can put in our hearts the love for others, and we should pray for that love, but sometimes there are folks out there that are hard to love.
Back to Tom T. Hall’s song–what do I love? I love Annie’s pie; I love coffee; I love a trout on the end of a line in a high mountain lake; I love watching the kids unwrap presents; I love the taste of a good, tender, juicy steak; I love the aroma of baking bread; I love the sound of the crack of a bat hitting a baseball; I love when a person succeeds, and I could go on. But isn’t that all superficial love?
Jesus loved us while we were yet sinners. He gave His life for us undeserving as we were. To answer Browning, nothing can “separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” “Neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing…” None of those things can separate us from the gracious love of God.
When I think of love, I think of my wife and family, then I think of the chorus of that grand hymn,
“O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure–
The saints’ and angels’ song.”
–Frederick M. Lehman