Its Not You - Its Me: A New View on Love

I was on the elliptical machine at the gym this morning; listening to some old playlists on my ipod when the Newsboys version of "I Surrender All" kicked up. Church-goers will most likely be familiar with the classic Hymn however the Newboys inserted a refrain that I may have finally heard and understood for the first time today . . .

"He doesn't love us 'cuz of who we are . . . He only loves us 'cuz of who He is . . . ."

And it hit me:

If we are to love others the way God loves us - we are to love others not because of who THEY are but because of who WE are. We don't love others because they are easy to get along with - we love them because WE are patient and kind. We don't love others because THEY add something in the credit column of our emotional ledger - we love them because WE are generous and giving.

We are called to love others not because of who THEY are but because of who WE have become - people mindful of, prompted and fueled by love. I don't love you because of who YOU are. I love you because that's who I AM.

I want to be the type of man who loves those around me not because of who they are - but because of who I have become.

Its not you - Its me (or rather Christ in me).

And that's a very different approach to love.

Happy Valentines Day

http://youtu.be/IpbDHxCV29A

To the New Year

by W. S. Merwin

With what stillness at last
you appear in the valley
your first sunlight reaching down
to touch the tips of a few
high leaves that do not stir
as though they had not noticed
and did not know you at all
then the voice of a dove calls
from far away in itself
to the hush of the morning

so this is the sound of you
here and now whether or not
anyone hears it this is
where we have come with our age
our knowledge such as it is
and our hopes such as they are
invisible before us
untouched and still possible