For Love With Love

ReMindEd • August 19, 2017

Ihesitated in putting this picture at the start of my blog post today. I do agree with it, but not to the extent you may think.

The definition of love for me is along the lines of a quote that happens to be biblical, that is used in most marriage ceremonies still, or at least a summarised version if the bible isn’t wanted to be credited.

Love is patient. Love is kind. Love does not envy. It does not boast…

But if I’m honest, I don’t love like that. I don’t know anyone who loves like that; not all the time.

I’m fortunate that my husband Grant is the closest example of that kind of love that I’ve ever seen. He has taught me more about unconditional love than anyone I’ve ever met.

I’m playing piano with some friends tonight at a women’s event in Noosa. We are performing a beautiful song called ‘Pieces’ by Amanda Cook and Steffany Gretzinger. Here are the words:

“Unreserved, unrestrained. Your love is wild, Your love is wild for me. It isn’t shy, it’s unashamed, Your love is proud to be seen with me.

You don’t give Your heart in pieces. You don’t hide Yourself to tease us.

Uncontrolled, uncontained. Your love is a fire, burning bright for me. It’s not just a spark. It’s not just a flame. Your love is a light, that all the world will see

Your love’s not fractured. It’s not a troubled mind. It isn’t anxious. It’s not the restless kind. Your love’s not passive. It’s never disengaged. It’s always present. It hangs on every word we say. Love keeps its promises. It keep its word. It honors what’s sacred. ‘Cause its vows are good. Your love’s not broken. It’s not insecure. Your love’s not selfish. Your love is pure.

That is a beautiful description of love. That type of love is what we all long for. That type of love is worth fighting for.

Here in lies my issue, with the quote at the start of this post: That kind of love wouldn’t need to be fought for. This description of love speaks of love’s strength, it’s power. It speaks of its willingness to fight for us.

Perhaps love in that form wouldn’t need us to fight for it, but would instead fight for us.

A gentle strength. A pursual of us. A kindness that envelops all of us within its warmth, protecting us and keeping us safe from the fight. It’s a position of rest. Of peace. Without doubt. Without fear.

Perhaps our mission therefore, is to accept that kind of love, to love ourselves in that way, and to then fight to be that kind of lover. To be love in the world.

The battle is within our mind. That is the only one we have power to win. Our mind’s freedom is worth fighting for. But again, not in the usual sense of the word fight. To battle in love rather than hate. To stand in the strength love gives us, from a position of love, to work with our mind rather than against. I wonder if we fought for love with love, would the battle be won more easily and more quickly?!

Within love the battle is won.

It’s no coincidence, Wonder Woman is called Wonder Woman. It’s about our wondering. Our thoughts. Our minds. Wonder Woman is a state of mind.

Imagine the possibilities if we all fought for love with love.

First in our minds, then in our relationships, then in our worlds.

We fight against our selves too often. We fight our mind. We see it as an enemy, as a tormentor, as one who reminds us of our past trauma or yesterday’s mistakes and regrets. We fight against our mind.

Put your energy into fighting for yourself instead. Work with your mind. Understand it. Learn to control it. We can’t control what we don’t understand. We also can’t face what we fear.

Deal with the fear: turn on the light and reveal the shadows. They are never as big and scary as we think. But what we think we create. We think things bigger than they are until they become that which we think. Until we become that which we think.