A Few Thoughts on Love + “Loved Into Being”
Loved into Being.
“All of us have special ones who have loved us into being.”
Wow! Do I love that quote! Wow. Thank you, Mr. Rogers!
I believe that there are many people just waiting for someone to tell them they can do it.
Love pushes and gently prods. Love calls down the mountain to those behind it: “you can make it!” and up the mountain to those ahead: “keep going…I’m following you.” Love encourages. Love lifts. Love shows another that they can be better – be all that God intended. Love does not coddle or enable, but gently shows that more is possible; that better is possible. Love sees others with eyes of what they can be, not what they currently are. Love sees the best and the bright spots. Its not that love does not recognize the challenges and limitations, for it does, but it sees them and knows they can be overcome.
As Louis Untermeyer said:
“Friendship is like love at its best; not blind, but sympathetically all seeing; a support which does not wait for understanding; an act of faith which does not need, but always has reason.”
“…love is not blind, but sympathetically all seeing...” Love, true love, the kind that as Mr. Rogers said, “loves us into being,” reveals deformities and blemishes that distance did not reveal. Love sees the deficiencies but does not focus on them. Love leads to the One who IS love, for there is no deficiency or deformity beyond His help.
I have been thinking the last few months or so, of Solomon’s words in Proverbs:
“…love covers all sins.” Proverbs 10:12
“…a prudent man covers shame.” Proverbs 12:16
“He that covers a transgression seeks love, but he that repeats a matter separates friends.” Proverbs 17:9
Love covers. Love conceals. If love sees something in another that is not favorable, it does not share it with the closest ear. Love says, “That’s not your best asset, let’s cover it with mercy.” Love sympathetically sees the weakness, but refuses to focus on it, and ushers it into the presence of a great God who has never been intimidated by any deficiency or deformity brought to Him. Love only reveals the dysfunction to the One who can help…the One who can heal. (And, at times, human help may be needed, too, but love will seek human help delicately and wisely, with the others best interests at heart.)
This is what Jesus does for each of us. He covers us with robes of righteousness.” (Isaiah 60:10) “He has covered me with the garments of salvation.” He covers. He clothes. His love is what is seen—His love covers.
I have not only been thinking of love covering, but of another aspect of love. I once heard someone say, “Humility shines the spotlight on others.” The same can be said of love. (And love and humility are so closely linked, for real love requires the others-centeredness of humility.) Love covers other’s weaknesses and highlights other’s strengths. Love shines a spotlight on the beautiful places. Love looks for the best and overlooks the worst. Love does not simply push one “out on the stage” under the scrutiny of a glaring spotlight, but graciously chooses the strengths that can be highlighted. Just as a photographer would adjust lighting to accentuate the best and most beautiful aspects of his subject, so does love, as it seeks areas to “display.” Love accentuates the best and the most beautiful in another. Love highlights the lovely and covers the unsightly.
Love loves another into being.
How I long to live a life marked by that kind of love. Lifting love. Pushing love. Sympathetically all-seeing love. Deep, undaunted love. This sort of love can ONLY come from the One who is Love. Love incarnate. Love divine. Love covered in flesh. Love that gave all He was, so I could one day become all He is! It is HIS LOVE and the love of those He has worked through in my life that have “loved me into being.”
Thank you, Mr. Rogers.
It truly is a beautiful day in the neighborhood.
Recommended series: “Trademarks of a Disciple:” http://clcwi.com/media?sapurl=Lytja2RqL2xiL21zLytiNnZwdjdkP2JyYW5kaW5nPXRydWUmZW1iZWQ9dHJ1ZSZyZWNlbnRSb3V0ZT1hcHAud2ViLWFwcC5saWJyYXJ5Lmxpc3QmcmVjZW50Um91dGVTbHVnPSUyQms5cThwOGs=
Recommended sermon: “Deficient Love:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yipxH79hHBo
Recommended book: “If” by Amy Carmichael: https://smile.amazon.com/If-Amy-Carmichael/dp/0875080715/ref=sr_1_1?crid=274WN6G03QITL&keywords=if+amy+carmichael&qid=1644591137&s=books&sprefix=if+amy%2Cstripbooks%2C210&sr=1-1