Three Words

I have been reflecting on today's scripture, on what it means to love, to totally love God. What does it mean when I say to the Lord, "I Love you"... and what happens as a result of those three words?


I

One single letter that contains all of me.  One single letter that points to my body, my mind, my hopes, my priorities, my personality, my pain, my fears.  "I" represents whatever it is that is standing on this side of the next word in the sequence, which is "Love".

Love 

A four letter word that contains all that a human can say about being drawn beyond the limits of "I".  It is more than attraction, although that may be where it begins.  It is deeper than commitment, although without commitment there is no love.  "Love" describes the consent spoken by "I" to be united with (indeed grafted to) whatever it is that is the "other", the "you" that follows the word "Love".

You

"You" are not "me", of course!  "You" is the someone or the something that is outside of my skin, beyond the line of what "I" am.  But because "I" have proclaimed that there is "love" between us, I have declared my consent to let "love" create a permeable membrane between "you" and "me".

And when the "you" in the sentence is God, my willingness to love "you", causes a transformation where "I" begin to dissolve.  Your love is so immense that "you" saturate my being.  My heart melts into yours, and bursts with magnificence that encircles every moment of my day -- at least every moment when I am willing to say:  I love you.

Loving God enables me, then, to look at another "other",  another "you", and say, "I love you!".

Three words.  Not to be spoken lightly!  So now I look at God, looking at me, even this moment, and all "I" can say is:  I love you!

Life simply cannot, now, be the same!