This is a bit of a follow-up on THIS post, which I wrote for Valentine’s Day. I’ve had no comment or feedback on it… and, I have to wonder if that’s because it hit a nerve or two.
And, some may ask me, “Who do you think you are telling us what is and is not love? You aren’t a relationship expert or anything.” Well, I certainly can say this to that: I have definitely been in enough relationships to know what is and isn’t love. I feel completely qualified to share here. I have not been loved, and I have been loved (and am being loved), and subsequently I can testify to what it is and what it is not and the vast difference between the two.
But, you know what? Let’s not get into a fuss here, alrighty? I’d simply like to share with you a picture and a song, and then I will let you go on about your day/night/whenever.
Some four years ago, Jamie took this beautiful intimate photo of us. Through the years this picture has appeared in various forms and in various places. Jamie and I always called it “Together”. For me, it has always conveyed our interdependent relationship so well – an expression of something that is truly precious (in the very literal sense of that word).
After writing my latest song last week, I thought of this image as a perfect one to visually represent the lyrics. And so, I dug it out once more.
In the past, this image has been cropped to flatter my less than perfect figure. This time, however, I decided to leave my “flaws” in it, for a reason: the song is about accepting someone as they are, because you love them – REALLY love them. And, this is something Jamie has always done. It’s my voice singing the song, but I really felt as I wrote the lyrics that I was interpreting my husband’s love and acceptance of me. I wrote the words, yes…but, these are words I have received from his heart – these are the words I daily experience in our relationship. Indeed, I am blessed.
But, this song, it isn’t only about the relationship I have with my amazing husband who really loves me. This song is, basically, about what walking in love really is – with anyone we claim to love.
Ephesians 5:1-2 (The Message) says:
Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn’t love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.
1 Corinthians 13:3-8 (The Message):
So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I’m bankrupt without love.
Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.Love never dies.
Everyone should know what love is – and, what it is not! In our relationships with people, we shouldn’t call what isn’t love love. And, when we say that we love someone, we should be ready to back that up with what love really is and does.
Let Me Hold You
Come here, let me hold you
I won’t tell you not to cry
All I ask is let me hold you
And catch the tears when they fallI don’t have much I can give you
Myself never seems to be enough
But all I am, you may have it
Take it all for your ownJust come here, let me hold you
I won’t judge you for your past
What is gone, don’t let it hold you
Let it go, and be free, at last…And, I promise to hold you forever!
So come on, let me hold you
Leave your sorrow, and come here
Together we’re much stronger
And have nothing left to fearAll we have is here in these arms
And in our hearts that know such love
Is forever and unfailing
And worth never letting go!Lyrics and Music by Autumn Dawn Leader.
Copyright ©2010 Autumn Dawn Leader. All rights reserved.
