Love. One of the most powerful words in the human language. The weight that the word love carries is almost incomparable. The history of the word love is incredibly rich. Think about it: Romeo and Juliet, Titanic, Love and Basketball, The Notebook – you get the idea. Love is a universal word because no matter what language you speak, your ethnicity, or your socioeconomic status, you know the word love.
For me, love has become an evolving word. I thought I knew love when my mom surprised me on Christmas with my first bike. I thought I knew love when I got my first girlfriend (I was in the fourth grade, and we dated for about 10–12 hours). I thought I knew love when I went on my first date with my wife, which led me to propose about a year later. I thought I knew love when my wife walked down the aisle toward me. To this day, I still daydream about our wedding. I thought I knew love when I found out we were having our son, then our daughter, and now we are expecting a third in July.
Love is so powerful and so rich that I don’t think humanity will ever be able to fully comprehend its true meaning. Love knows no bounds. It can penetrate the hardest of hearts and make them warm again. Love can make time feel irrelevant. It is one of the few things that every human in the world longs to experience.
There is a saying used often today: “love is love.” To be honest, I could not disagree more with this statement. “Love is love” devalues the impact and the weight the word holds. Love is life- changing. Love is life-giving. Love is the most powerful word, with the deepest history in all of human language. Love is sacrifice. Love is a choice. Love is submission. And most importantly, love is a person. Love is Jesus, who willingly sacrificed His body to save the entire world. It is quite literally the greatest love story ever told.
My hope for you this month is that the words of St. Augustine will resonate with you: “What does love look like? It has the hands to help others. It has the feet to hasten to the poor and needy. It has eyes to see misery and want. It has the ears to hear the sighs and sorrows of men. That is what love looks like.”
Let this be a month where love is on display. Not with material things but with action and kindness.
Mt. Horeb Church
1205 Old Cherokee Road, Lexington
Traditional: 9 am and 10:45 am
Contemporary: 9 am and 10:45 am