Perfectly Loved

As I write this I'm in a hotel in Amarillo. We're on our way to Colorado Springs to attend the wedding of one of the most amazing young men I know and his equally incredible fiance. It just so happens my family lives in Colorado Springs - mom, dad, two brothers. My brother Kenny from the last post lives in Phoenix, which is where we are headed on Tuesday. All that to say that the next week will be quite emotional and long - very long - filled with happiness and sadness. We all miss Tyler. His absence from the wedding festivities will be strongly felt. My brother is dying. My parents are really old - 87 and 92. How long can that go on? And that is all what is going on now - here in the natural. Inside of me there is so much more happening. And all I can think of is this: "I am perfectly loved." If I can focus on that one truth all the rest will take care of itself. Perfect love casts out fear. Perfect love speaks love. That is my prayer. That my words will reflect what is in my heart - all week. That I will not succumb to behaviors of the past but will rise to the knowledge of who I have become and am becoming.

After I had emailed some of this to a friend this morning I clicked over to my Henri Nouwen daily meditation and this is what it said:

The Source of All Love

Without the love of our parents, sisters, brothers, spouses, lovers, and friends, we cannot live. Without love we die. Still, for many people this love comes in a very broken and limited way. It can be tainted by power plays, jealousy, resentment, vindictiveness, and even abuse. No human love is the perfect love our hearts desire, and sometimes human love is so imperfect that we can hardly recognise it as love.

In order not to be destroyed by the wounds inflicted by that imperfect human love, we must trust that the source of all love is God's unlimited, unconditional, perfect love, and that this love is not far away from us but is the gift of God's Spirit dwelling within us.

Isn't God absolutely good?