Perhaps Love . . .

My mother told the story of my toddler days and nap times. I’d never awaken crying but lie or sit contentedly singing until she came to get me. One song, popular to her generation in the 40s, poured out of my young lungs. “I don’t know why I love you like I do. . . I don’t know why, I just do.”

Through my mother’s influence, all kinds of music were an important part of my growing up years. When my brothers and I reached our teen’s, she flowed with interest into the music we loved and other music over the ensuring years. 

In my late 20s, I learned to play the guitar. What a great instrument to use in my classroom. I passed on to my students many notes from my songbook. Among these were some songs by John Denver, a favorite of mine from the era of folk singers.

He knew his way with many a song that mirrored the human condition and the need to honor the creation that we were given by God to tend. How far we have roamed from the original Garden, yet we have gardens to tend as we wend our way back Home. Our gardens include the dimensions and blooms of love. 

“Perhaps Love”  ranks high on my list of John Denver’s hits. To listen to its lyrics one gets the impression that he was confused about love. Well, aren’t we all? 

It leads me to another John, the Apostle who walked with Christ and wrote Gospel accounts of that time.  In John 17, we read a communion of words that Christ offers to his Father. In the chapter’s context it is placed prior to the day leading to Christ’s Crucifixion, the completion of his earthly mission, and his return Home. He prays from his heart on our behalf. 

I compiled a duet between the words of the two men named, John, and within lie some answers about love.  

Introduction 

“In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone” (John 1: 1-4 NLT).

Perhaps love is like a resting place

A shelter from the storm

It exists to give you comfort

It is there to keep you warm

And in those times of trouble

When you are most alone

The memory of love will bring you home

“Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began” (John 17: 24 NLT).

Perhaps love is like a window

Perhaps an open door

It invites you to come closer

It wants to show you more

And even if you lose yourself 

And don't know what to do

The memory of love will see you thru

“O righteous Father, the world doesn’t know you, but I do; and these disciples know you sent me. I have revealed you to them, and I will continue to do so. Then your love for me will be in them, and I will be in them” (verses 25-26 ).

O love to some is like a cloud

To some as strong as steel

For some a way of living

For some a way to feel

And some say love is holding on

And some say letting go

And some say love is everything

Some say they don't know

“I have given them the glory you gave me, so they may be one as we are one. I am in them and you are in me. May they experience such perfect unity that the world will know that you sent me and that you love them as much as you love me” ( verses 22-23).

Perhaps love is like the ocean

Full of conflict full of change 

Like a fire when it's cold outside

A thunder when it rains

If I should live forever

And all my dreams come true

My memories of love will be of you

"Make them holy by your truth; teach them your word, which is truth. Just as you sent me into the world, I am sending them into the world. And I give myself as a holy sacrifice for them so they can be made holy by your truth” ( verses 17-19).

If I should live forever

And all my dreams come true

My memories of love will be of you

Bridge

And what of that toddler in her crib, singing, “I don’t know why I love you like I do. . . I don’t know why, I just do”? That song remains deep in my heart of memories and was pulled out a bit over a decade ago. I sat on the bed in a hospice room where my Mom lie in a deep sleep, a nap of a kind, one from which she would awaken and know the perfection of Love -- choruses of love --promised because of the Love the Father sent, not a “perhaps love”.  I sang to her. I sang my toddler song but I was able to add on “the whys”. During this rendition of the song, tears flowed with the words falling out of my heart. 

Perhaps love is simply that -- all the pieces in our hearts that cannot be contained but need to flow out and become known. It  is the “why of God “ poured into us, his defining of us, his gift to us to extravagantly lavish on those we meet. In following His lead, we come to understand many of the whys and the ways that love becomes real.

If I should live forever

And all my dreams come true

My memories of love will be of you

“This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends” (John 15: 12-13 NLT).

Lynn’s guitar,

“Perhaps Love” sheet music,

rocking chair where years of love were 

poured out, sitting, sharing, and singing
Listen to the song! 
Perhaps Love