Reality

In this post I said how love is like a sword without a handle.  I talked about how I know that it hurts and takes sacrifice to love.  Following that post, I wrote this one, saying how it takes risk to love and sometimes takes us where we're not comfortable.  But those were only blog posts.  Sure, in the latter one I told a true story, but mostly they were only words on a page or screen.  Hopefully they had meaning, but to some extent they were probably just mere thoughts in our minds, slipping into the "forgotten folder" before we realized it.

Truly being hurt, though, is different.  It actually hurts, unlike just writing or reading about it.  I question, Why does God let hurtful things happen to those he loves?  Could it be so we know how it feels when others get hurt?  Is it because God wants us to actually hurt for other people, and if we'd never be hurt ourselves, how could we hurt for them?

I know little children who have had more hurtful things done to them than many of us have ever experienced in our whole lives.  Already, their hearts are fragile and broken.  How then, will we care for them if we cannot identify with their pain even to just some small extent?

Just having passed Valentine's Day, the ever famous "love day," I ask again, Why do we get hurt when we love?  Because in reality, love isn't about roses and chocolate, accompanied by all things pink, red, and white.  Sure, Valentine's Day is a fine day to celebrate those we love, but going from day to day, love doesn't always feel beautiful and is more about giving up my rights, forgiving again and again, and putting others' needs and wants before mine.

Maybe it's best explained in a song called, "Yet," by Switchfoot.  The bridge goes like this:

If it doesn't break, if it doesn't break, if it doesn't break
If it doesn't break your heart, it isn't love
No, if it doesn't break your heart, it's not enough
It's when you're breaking down with your insides coming out
That's when you find out what your heart is made of

So true.  When our hearts break, that's when we're really giving, really loving.  It's not about us, and how hurt we may feel, it's about other people, and how we can love Jesus by truly loving them.  The reality is, it hurts to love, but Jesus was hurt even more.  Being hurt by love isn't beautiful, but beautiful Love was hurt, so He will make all hurt beautiful.