"I don't think I will be able to make it in this hook-up culture. How do you do it?"
I paused for a minute and then said resolutely, "I give no one access to my heart anymore."
The beauty of our hook up culture is that we rely only on ourselves for necessities...food, clothing, entertainment, shelter. We answer to no one. We come and go as we deem appropriate and are rarely concerned with others' opinions.
We are too busy surviving.
I met someone recently that made me question my quest for singleness. I liked him. He gave me butterflies. He made me smile when I received a text. I felt all gooey inside.
He is also hundreds of miles away. Perfect for someone whose heart has seen better days.
The beauty of closing your heart off is you can stay in that space for a long time....in the romantic phase where reality never really settles on you. You can keep people at a comfortable distance and step into their world only when you want. There is no danger of being hurt because you haven't let them in.
The down side to this closing off your heart business is that you do it across the board. For everyone. Except your kids.
Kids are safe to pour your heart into. They will hurt it, but that is an expected hurt. It's not the kind of hurt that takes you off guard and makes you question the essence of humanity. And firmly feel you have again failed in your pursuit of finding kindness. It's not the kind of hurt that calls for yet another department to be shut down. If anything, it pushes you to let them in more deeply.
They will beat it up, but it's a rewarding kind of beating. From the moment you say hello to their beautiful face, you have surrendered any right to selfishness. Their beatings and rejections make you pursue them even more. Because you know they need you.
For the kind of love you have for your kids is the agape kind...the kind that Jesus has for us.
"Agape love is selfless, sacrificial, unconditional love. It is the highest of the four types of love in the Bible. This Greek word, agápē, and variations of it are frequently found throughout the New Testament. Agape perfectly describes the kind of love Jesus Christ has for his Father and for his followers."
God in His beauty and goodness pursues us even harder when we give Him a beating. He invades our personal space. He has knowledge of us that no one has access to. He sees our motives. He understands our behaviors. He created us so we are no mystery to Him. Our efforts to push Him away are an invitation for Him to pull us closer. He is unrelenting in His love for us.
Trust me, I have tried to push Him away.
So in this culture that is a fan of hooking up, the only ones who get to see your heart are the ones you carried inside you and the One who carries you.
https://youtu.be/TCunuL58odQ
No comments:
Post a Comment