Love

Driving to work I was reflecting on a daily devotional I had read on love. It went on to mention the Pont des Arts bridge in Paris where couples would chain a pad lock as a sign of love. The thousands of locks on the bridge weight heavily to the point of damaging it. 

Let’s take a step back, remembering a personal family situation a good few years back, it made me think about the bible story in 1 Kings 3:16–28 Then came there two women, that were harlots, unto the King…. Verse 17, And the one woman said, O my Lord, I and this woman dwell in one house; and I was delivered of a child with her in the house. Verse 18, And It came to pass the third day after that I was delivered also: and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, save we two in the house. Verse 19, And this woman’s child died in the night, because she overlaid it. Verse 20, And she arose at midnight, and took my son from beside me… Verse 21 And when I rose in the morning to give my child suck, behold, it was dead: but when I had considered it in the morning, behold, it was not my son, which I did bear. Verse 22 And the other woman said, Nay;… Verse 23, Then said the king, The one saith, This is my son that lived, and thy son is the dead: and the other saith, Nay; but thy son is the dead, and my son is the living. Verse 24, And the King said, Bring me a sword. And they brought the sword before the king. And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other. Verse 26 Then spoke the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and, and she said, O my Lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it. But the other said, let it be done neither mine nor thine, but divide it. Verse 27, Then the king answered and said, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it: she is the mother thereof.

I want to pick up these words ‘for her bowels yearned’, I see that love at times carry pain which weighs. Love can carry lost and an element of letting go or giving up for the sake of love; could this include forgiveness too? So often we think of the happy feelings of love which is distorted but love does not always carry happy feelings. I never thought about what I am about to say until now for God so loved the world, he gave His only begotten Son, St John 3:16; the lady was willing to give up her son because of love.

By Kerri-Ann