Love Hurts
It is an inconvenient truth that love and pain walk hand-in-hand. When we think of the many ways love enriches our lives, we must include the fact that it teaches us to hurt. While I’ve never seen anyone in the emergency room over a “love attack,” I believe the heart’s sorrow is every bit as real. Forensics aside, it may be that some die of a broken heart.
The range of the emotion is certainly in question. There is a difference between “the sweet ache that will not go away” and the heartbreak when love dies and relationships end. Love for a vocation or dream is different from the love for family. People can love on different levels without doing injustice to the emotion.
Love hurts because love is complicated. When it comes to people, it’s sometimes hard to understand the ground rules. There can be a great joy in the fluidity of love, but it’s hard to stand in a slippery place. I once took a class on the four love languages. I stuttered through them all. We see love differently, so you see the problem.
Love hurts because love is inconvenient. Something must be set aside for love’s sake because all love demands sacrifice. But because a sacrifice is loving does not mean it is easy or without conflict. Many times an inconvenience for the sake of love will be painful. Since (as Robert Frost said) “way leads to way,” we may never regain what was lost for love.
Love hurts because love involves risk. Uncertainty is the nature of risk. Love demands a venture. There is a certain thrill to travel with an unknown destination, but many ships lose all on the high seas. What we do for love may greatly benefit us in the short-range, but we don’t know that for sure. Love uses binoculars.
Scripture says, “Christ’s love compels us.” There is a constant pull in the life of a believer toward Christ. As our relationship with Him deepens, His goals become our goals- likewise, His virtues. Learning to love (with all its ramifications) becomes and remains a work in progress for each believer. It is presently active but always growing.
Christ endured the cross for the joy of a future reality. His great love for us brought Him suffering in the short-term. With this in mind, perhaps we should look long-range with regard to perseverance and pain. Simultaneously, Jesus knew He was making a difference for all eternity. Love is patient in its application.
The loss that loves incurs is temporary. The value it instills is eternal. Its accomplishments adorn the halls of eternity. Love and loss are ever a part of our present lives. One day we will know how forever feels. We will understand that loving God and loving people were the only things that really mattered.
Sterl
« Go back