The Love We Had At First
Writer Author Richard S. Adams
Christian Article
:
Love
- Fiction No
After you have been with someone for a while I think it is a good thing to remember how it was in the beginning. I remember my first date with Lily. (7/22/83) It wasn't too long before she wanted me to take her home, but I refused. Instead, we drove from Odessa, TX to Midland so we could have more time to talk. We were out most of the night and by the time I took her home I had a beachhead in her heart.
I remember eating ice cream with her in a grocery store's parking lot. Yeah, I was Mr. Excitement. Once, while driving around Odessa looking for blade grass, really, I took off my boots (hey, it was Texas) and walked across a school's football field. It turned out to be mostly weeds and stickers. What was exciting was pulling Lily onto my lap and kissing her for the first time. I think all those stickers in my socks made her feel sorry for me.
Love is an intimate and wonderful thing. We banter the word around as if it were nothing, but it is everything. Remember how you were? You could think of nothing but her or him. Things you didn't notice before were suddenly new and alive ... if, he or she liked them. What's the phrase? All was right with the world. It wasn't, but love had your attention.
My daughter-in-law gave her heart to the Lord early last year. She rationally assented to and affirmed God long before, but this was more than a rational acknowledgement. The Lord knocked on the door of her heart and she opened the door. Now, the young woman is full of joy! She isn't churchy, but loving. You don't hear her saying brother this and sister that, it's her perspective that's so different. Nothing is about her; everything is about the other person. Now, like Lily, she always thinks the best of other people.
I guess I grew used to Lily's sweetness, but now, confronted with the abrupt change in Crystal's attitude I am suddenly aware that I am out of step with God. My relationship with God is intact, but the joy I see in Lily and Crystal is absent. What happens when your focus moves from God and others to yourself? Do you become more aware of evil and all that is wrong with this world? Do you become more aware of all that is wrong with yourself? Conviction and remorse are not the same thing. One brings repentance, a change in direction, movement, and the other brings you to a stand-still. Remorse is a debilitating condition. Some might call it depression.
In Rev 2:4 Jesus says, "But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first." Have I done that? Have I watched the News and read the paper so much that I see mostly what is wrong? Did I not read the article in the paper about the Portland mother who forgave the man who killed her son? Do I automatically assume someone is lying to me because the previous five people did? Do I think all, as in every single politician is self-serving? This line of questions can eventually lead to the cave where Elijah uttered nonsense to the Lord. I don't want to go there.
We are surrounded by pain and sorrow, but there is likewise much good. The Bible says the light overcomes the darkness. Does that apply to someday or right now? Would our relationships and our attitude toward the world be better if we remembered the love we had at the first?
Editor's Comment:
About the Writer Author
State:
Portland
Country:
Oregon
Email:
rsaofyap@yahoo.com
Website:
www.yukonangelproductions.com
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