It's that time again. The Christmas season. Depending on your family situation, that sentence might inspire feelings of warmth or feelings of dread. Three Christmases ago, I wrote a blog titled The Two Sides of Christmas. I wrote about the mixed feelings Christmas brings. There is something more to Christmas than simply getting everything on our list. The holiday touches on something that resonates deep within each of our souls: love. Christmas is really about Love. Love's a funny thing though, isn't it? I mean what does it mean to love someone exactly? It might seem so easy to define until you think about it. Sometimes, love can mean so many things. We love our family, our friends, our significant other. We also love pizza, music, and movies. Yet none of these loves are even remotely the same.
"All You Need is Love"
I can't think of a subject more talked about, more written about, or more sung about than love. The longing for love is so deeply rooted in the human heart. I have met people from many different walks of life, but I've never met someone who didn't desire unfailing love. It is the one common thread weaving through all of humanity. Our love is what separates us from the rest of nature. Love is incompatible with self-preservation or survival of the fittest. We're not animals simply trying to survive, we're human beings with a deep desire to connect with others on a soul level. We search, we chase, we dream. And that's not so surprising when you think about it. After all, if we are made with a soul in the image of our God, wouldn't it make sense that we have such a capacity and desire for love?
We do crazy things in our pursuit for love. Sometimes we walk away winners, other times we walk away broken in pieces. It's a graveyard of hearts, this world in which we live. Some give up and deaden their hearts to this longing for love in an effort to avoid further pain; others pick up the pieces and press on in their search, hoping to one day find a love that won't let go.
But Christmas is not only about the human search for love. Christmas is really a story about Love. The human story is marked by our own exhaustive pursuit of love. But Christmas tells the story of Love's relentless pursuit of us. "For love is as strong as death, it's jealousy as unyielding as the grave" (Song 8:6). Love came down to earth in human form to give us hope, joy, and peace. You see, I've come to realize that it's not the longing for love that is the enemy. You could deaden your heart in an effort to stop the bleeding, but all that does is numb you. You might not feel any pain, but then again, you won't feel anything at all. This drive for love is in us for a reason. The desire for love is not the problem, it's simply a question of where you look for it.
