Love Responds

Arrogance cannot coexist with love.

Disappointment, the black hole that swallows all joy.

Joy, contentment, and peace are absent your responses . . . replaced with name calling, labels and barbs of expectations unfulfilled in my human replies. The last two letters you used the terms “disappointed, liberal, liar, scoffer, false prophet, damnable heresies, hell bound, deceived, and gobbledygook.”

I came to you with an open heart, full, humble, sharing joy and memory . . . and questions.

True love welcomes, demands, examination. Questions are pondered and turned over. Not all answers will find foot in historical fact, yes, this is faith and faith is necessary in the pursuit of truth. Nonetheless, the vast majority of love’s conclusion will be rooted in a truth that makes sense, absent of which all becomes shadowy belief, shallow and thin. Only a fool stubbornly continues toward “that doesn’t make sense” with the proud upward chin of determinism. True love may begin with uncertainty but confidently grows with the assuredness of evidence, foundation and historical truth.

My questions have produced disappointment, irritation, and a roundabout of quotable verses, rather than the personal response of one who has struggled with truth, and although lacking perfection, has found peace and contentment, conclusions based on more than opinions, interpretations, and legends approved by government decree 2500 years ago.

You asked, would I trade the love of God for the love of my children, as can only be asked by one who has never experienced the purest love of parent to child, and I wholeheartedly say, yes and YES! A God who is so jealous, so shallow as to demand, need, my puny, insignificant human love to sustain themselves is not a God worthy of my puny, insignificant human sacrifice.

Love does not demand love in return. Love is shared joy in the full unconditional acceptance of another. The strongest embrace and protections of love are demonstrated by the capability and willingness to dissect and sift through the motivations and peculiarities of its existence without fear of what answers reveal.

I have found love in my wife, my children, my friends, my travels, the embrace of a stranger in sorrowful distress, the high boisterous laughter of an outstanding wit and quip, a quiet fire alone in my thoughts.

Love and joy are not found in quotations. They are found in a life that is lived after sifting through the ashes of a refiners fire, discovering gems clarified from inquiry and examination, holding close only to what is steadfast, endearing, and everlasting.

If that is God . . . then they desire the same of me and we are fulfilled in each other. Love absent this God, is still love and I am content and at peace to embrace its strength and memory and the life it gives in a hug, a tear, a hand, a grave, a service, a word, a gesture that transcends time and earthly constraints.