Faith, Hope

One

“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.” I’ll have to admit that, for a while, this quote by C.S Lewis perfectly described the state of my heart.

But last week, as I stood with a friend in her kitchen, we had a conversation that changed my life. Of course, I love but, disagreeing with my own heart, I’d rather stay at arm’s distance. Yet, a friendship barely six months old had become a relationship safe enough for me to share some of my deepest heartaches. We’ve all trusted people with our treasures which they then disregarded. So, naturally, I never thought I would share these stories again. I had sworn I wouldn’t, but I did and unbelievably, it helped me heal. In that moment, life gave me an amazing lesson on the incredible power of just one.

Over the next few days, I kept going back to the moment in my friend’s kitchen. I realized that the pain that several people pile up can be swept away by the love of just one. It only takes one.

Since then, I’ve noticed that I’m a little braver. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear (1 John 4:18). The fear that had made itself at home in my heart had been confronted by love. That love has resuscitated my desire to trust again.

I find myself trying again. And, that’s exactly what love does to you. What I had sworn was impossible now seems probable. If I could wrap up a handful of love, tie a bow around it and deliver it across the world, I would. It’s more potent than anything else this world offers. And it only takes one. You can be that one.

“Most of all, love each other as if your life depended on it. Love makes up for practically anything.” -1 Peter 4:8

2 thoughts on “One

  1. This is so true and thank you for sharing it. It is so well put! It is so hard for me to share with anyone and i remember this one time i did and i was surprised to see the happiness that filled my heart and feeling of assurance. it felt like God assuring me that He will always be with me and loves me no matter what. THANK YOU for sharing this, Maria. It is such a great reminder.

  2. Beautiful and very true…love has different forms and yet it moulds itself around us to make and give us the life god wants us to have…we often don’t see it but it’s all there

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