Love and especially how much God loves us seems to be a recurring theme in my life at the moment… I’ve been reading, thinking and talking about it a lot.
A close friend gave me Brennan Manning’s book ‘the furious longing of God’ which is all about how much God loves us and desperately wants to be in relationship with us. It’s an incredibly inspirational book which is shaping how I view the love of God. It’s made me think about how God who is the very definition of Love – endlessly, completely, without restraint, furiously, joyfully, without limit, totally abandons Himself to love me and you.
Recently I came across this poem from Mother Teresa:
People are often unreasonable, illogical and self centered;
Forgive them anyway.
If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives;
Be kind anyway.
If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies;
Succeed anyway.
If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you;
Be honest and frank anyway.
What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight;
Build anyway.
If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous;
Be happy anyway.
The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow;
Do good anyway.
Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough;
Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.
You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and your God;
It was never between you and them anyway.
I wonder if you can only ‘live’ like this poem when you know you are ‘loved’ with a furious longing…
In the words of someone I love dearly ‘thoughts from the crowd?’
W x
