Weekly Words

I Believe in Love

I am constantly and consistently reminded of the power of Love. A few weeks ago I began the arduous but gratifying task of reading the signature biographical tome on Warren Buffet’s life – The Snowball. In the twentieth chapter the author, Alice Schroeder, explains the important role Buffet’s wife Susie had in making him feel Lovable. After growing up with a loyal but emotionally abusive mother, Schroeder concludes that Leila (Buffet’s mother) “had convinced both Warren and Doris (Buffet’s sister) that deep down they were worthless.” I was moved as Schroeder quoted Buffett’s explanation on what Susie meant to him.

Buffet explains,
I had all these defense mechanisms that she could explain, but I can’t. She probably saw things in me that other people couldn’t see. But she knew it would take time and a lot of nourishment to bring it out. She made me feel that I had somebody with a little sprinkling can who was going to make sure that the flowers grew …. I needed her like crazy. I was happy in my work, but I wasn’t happy with myself. She literally saved my life. She resurrected me. She put me together. It was the same kind of unconditional love you would get from a parent.

What Buffet explains is exactly what Love does to us and for us and why we need Love in our lives. Love finds the best and the strongest in us when the common eye can only see the worst and the weakest. It waters and warms us so that we can bloom and bud at our best and brightest. It literally saves us from the death of loneliness and isolation. In the worst times, Love lifts us. In the hardest times, Love soothes us. In the coldest times, Love warms us. All at once it is our biggest romantic engine, our best political tool, our strongest familial ally, and the greatest and most ubiquitous force in our world.

The Bible says, “God IS Love (1 John 4:8).” I think we often miss the profundity of this claim. So many times we look for God by hoping for miracles, begging for money, or searching for materialistic gain. All the while, God’s presence in our lives and God’s power through our lives exists in the Loving relationships that we live in day to day. God IS Love. This means that God literally is the connection we feel with our friends, the nourishment we receive from our parents, the enthusiastic longing we have for our “boo,” the loyalty we have for our boys or our girlfriends, and the undying bond we have with extended family. To say I believe in Love IS to say I believe in God. This is why I can find no better subject to talk about, no better idea to think about, or no better force to embrace. Love … I believe in it!!! Though I believe in it deeply, this does not mean I excel at it greatly. Nevertheless, I believe the greatest endeavor each of us have in this world is to live in it … to live in Love.

Humbly in Christ’s Love,
Pastor B.A. Jackson