LOVE

Long dry spell … little inspiration … few healings …
   a whole lot of turmoil … a DROUGHT.
One night on mental bended knees I humbly asked,
“Father, what do I need to know?”
Then I waited. I vowed to stay as long as it took to get an answer
– and was startled at the quickness of the reply.
   A question answered my question. Three simple words:

“WILL YOU LOVE?”

Instantly, all confusion; pressure; the trying to figure out
   the whats, whys, wheres, whens, hows CEASED in
   the POWER of those three simple words:
“Will you love?”
Would I love when I thought I couldn’t … when I didn’t want to …?
   Would I love when it didn’t even seem fair to do so …?
Would I love when I got nothing in return …
   when I would be hated for it … when no one else would or could?

“I LOVED YOU FIRST, YOU KNOW.”*

I could love because God, divine Love itself, was the source …
   filling me to overflow with love so I could naturally express Love.
Love itself would show me how.
I was not to be surprised if it looked much different than I expected.

Love might say no, when everything in me yearned to say yes.
Love might say yes, when every fiber of my being pleaded to say no.
Love might say go, when I so wanted to stay put.
And Love might say wait, when I felt ready to MOVE, push on, and GO.

If I listened and trusted, I would always be led.
My only responsibility was to give an answer to that question:
   “Will you love?”

Long pause.              I listen.             It must be an honest,
   from-the-heart-core answer.   Not to be taken lightly.

Then … I vowed, …

“I    will    love.”

*See I John 4:19.

Originally published in the July 1, 2019, issue of the Christian Science Sentinel.