Love…A Creative Force – Sunday, February 16, 1986
Love is the most quietly creative force in the universe. Babies grow up happily, adults achieve crowning glory, and small impressions are transformed into innovative ideas. Without it, infants turn to the wall and die, adults are broken and diminished, and thoughts are stillborn, never to be transferred to action. Love is a need so basic, in fact, that we spend most of our lives seeking it and finally judge ourselves on how much we think we’re loved.
A talk show host was interviewing a number of guests on the greatest fears they faced.
Most spoke eloquently about nuclear war, the depletion of vital energy reserves; but one, and eminent editor, was strangely silent. Finally, he admitted, “What I fear most is not being loved.”
If love is so critical to our happiness, then it is interesting that we live in a society where so many of us struggle in that supreme commitment of love—a happy marriage.
Most of us need one other person with whom we feel the inexpressible comfort of acceptance. We want to meet, at the end of a day that has shredded and discouraged us, with someone who can make us whole again. Yet, that relationship is not easy to achieve. Why? It may be that marriage shows us up for what we are. We all live with imperfect people. No one has a spouse who always lives up to expectations. It may be that illusion that we are the exception, fostered during the first heady moments of romance, is shattered when we realize that we are two different people whose likes and dislikes differ, who do not always see the same way. It may be that, caught in the mundane dailiness of a world that offers not just joy, but frustration, we blame each other.
Yet, despite these obstacles, we can achieve that love in a marriage that endures and blesses. How?
We can talk to each other, move beyond the easy assumption that our mate should “just know” how we feel, ask questions of the other that say, “I want to share your experiences, see your viewpoint.”
We can understand when our spouse is gloomy, short-tempered, sorrowing; expect that she’ll have problems or he’ll have weaknesses and not be thrown by them.
We can pray for and with each other—plead for his well-being, ask the Lord for ways to bless her life.
We can do the little things for one another—remember a favorite food, write a note indulge a fancy.
Mostly, we can love. And, if our mate does not seem to respond in the way we might hope, the best thing we can do is just keep loving—for love is the most quietly creative force in the universe.
February 16, 1986
Broadcast Number 2,948