Musings on Love

Part of my MDiv synthesis that popped up again:

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One thing that I know is that love ensures the protection of two hearts. When one loves, s/he enables him/her self to see past the immediacy of one’s emotional needs and wants. S/he creates a safe space for the other to enter in. Within this entering in of trusting the other and displaying vulnerability, the one receiving the gift of the other is required to hold that gift of self in such high regard that it becomes ultimate priority to guard and protect. At some time or another, in all people’s lives, human beings are both givers and receivers. We are vulnerable and share, we are trusted and we receive. The details of this reception are often mistaken as an interchange of information or deeper knowledge into the other person; and although this may prove often correct, the information shared with the other is a snowballing of one’s entire life - the ups, the downs, the joys, the disappointments, the mistakes, lessons learned, and the revelation of love that happens within the context of all these things.

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So while we receive, we must cradle the great gift of the other like a newborn child that cannot fend for itself. For when a person reaches out and discloses any information of the self, s/he is trusting in love. If all things that are love are God, that person is actually trusting and hoping in something eternal - in something true, good, and beautiful. S/he makes a statement that they trust in the name of God who loves and promises to protect. This intention is not always even clear to the giver. Many times when information is exchanged, one does not reflect on the subconscious reasons for giving the information.

Take for example a romantic relationship. Why do people share past histories, especially in the cases where the information is negative. People do this subconsciously because there is human urgency that all people have to be loved, accepted, and taken care of. Who doesn't like breakfast made for them in the morning or the driveway shoveled when it’s snowing? Further, when a person’s vulnerability is taken advantage of - meaning the receiver has disregarded or not protected the heart of the giver, there is great anxiety, fear, and uncertainty of the future. Sometimes this can be overwhelming, especially in the case of the giver having trust in the receiver and being let down. In these times relationships can seemingly just diminish even when there was much exchange. This is not because the two people are broken - it is because the receiver never really received the gift. Instead, it was information obtained for the sole purpose of gaining - maybe power over or security for the self.


However, when one truly enters into the state of being a true receiver, information should penetrate the heart so deeply so that it will always be protected and guarded as long as the information is true. Truth points its way to love and love is an undeniable force in the world that wants so badly to envelop every human being that sometimes it can be feared.


Brittney Nurse