In Time Like These
In times like these…Grow in Love!
C.S. Lewis wrote to a friend to encourage her in a time of need and loss. He said: “Loneliness, I am pretty sure, is one of the ways by which we can grow spiritually. Until we are lonely we may easily think we have got further than we really have in Christian love; our (natural and innocent, but merely natural, not heavenly) pleasure in being loved—in being, as you say, an object of interest to someone—can be mistaken for progress in love itself, the outgoing active love which is concerned with giving, not receiving. It is this latter which is the beginning of sanctity.” It is this Active Divine Love and Lover who have the staying power to lead us now and beyond this occasional crisis.
Is Lewis right? Is loneliness a path to grow spiritually? Apparently, in loneliness, it is more blessed to give love than to receive love. Loneliness can give priority to love when our loneliness is mined for spiritual growth.
Jesus taught first and foremost that we are to love God with all of our being: Heart (our spirit and our will), Soul (the part of us that holds our inner life intact), Mind (our thoughts and our feelings), and Strength (our body and social relationships). (Matthew 22:37-28). We all have room to grow in our love for God with all we are. In loneliness, we are able to see where we are in loving God and neighbor as our self.
Paul follows this same line of thinking when he prays that God would increase the love of the people of the Way of Love: “May the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for all people, just as we also do for you…” (1 Thessalonians 2:14). In seasons of loneliness or not, God wants to grow our love for him and others. To grow in love is to grow in active willingness to bring all the good we can into this world and to all the people in it.
• You can love Him with all your heart.
We express our love to God when we resist any emotion that is contrary to His will. “Dear God, keep my heart focused and clean. Empower me to resist to feel better about myself because of the money I have or don’t have, the position I occupy or don’t occupy. I will guard my heart from wrong relationships, from sinful addictions, from bitterness, from offense, from anxious living.
• You can love Him with all your soul.
We must always think of who we are in terms of our relationship with God. At the core of us: We are beloved children of God. God does not love us because we do so much or because people recognise our efforts and worth. “Dear God, it is best for me to allow you to define who I am, on the basis of your relationship with me. Define who I am by the love you shed abroad in my heart. My worth is from this love not from what I possess.
• You can love Him with all your mind.
The way to our inner life is our mind. Therefore, we fill our minds with God. Lord, I will fill my mind with the things that are above: The good, the pure, the lovely, the honorable, and the things of good repute. These are my inspiration to grow in my love for you. Lead me not into temptation of lesser or base thoughts lest my love for you diminishes.
• You can love Him with all your strength.
We are to love God with our natural resources (time, money, energy, talents, words, and influence). O God give me grace to use all I can and all I have to give love. It is more blessed to give than to receive. Amen!