Perhaps Love Is . . . !

 Some Thoughts On Love 

My mother used to tell 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 became an important part of my growing up years. When my brothers and I reached our teen years and beyond, she flowed with interest into the music we loved. 

Music. Such a key love in my life.

In my late 20s, I learned to play the guitar and loved having its ready access for use in my classroom. I passed along many notes from my songbook to my students. Among them were songs made popular by John Denver.

He knew his way with many a song that mirrored the human condition. He promoted the need to honor God’s creation. How far we have roamed from the original Garden and all it contained for us in relating to God and the blooms of his pure Love. In our original Home, love was a known.

“Perhaps Love”  ranks high on my list of John Denver’s songs. 

To listen to its lyrics one gets the impression that 

he was confused about love. Well, aren’t we all? 

I am led 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 of love 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).

The Duet

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 oceanfull of conflict full of change; 

Like a fire when it is  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, both tears and words fell 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 of himself 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).

Listen to John Denver’s song! 

Silver Lining Heart

Mixed Media

by my friend, Mary Peterson