beginning with a bang

Lewis talks about the explosive love that begins relationships today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He says that the explosion of our "falling in love" is what starts the "engine" of the quieter, deeper love that runs throughout our marriage. And quite so.

But it brings to mind other explosions and other beginnings. It's funny when you hear some scientists and some Christians arguing about the big bang theory. It's like they both think that the idea of the universe coming into existence from a giant explosion is somehow antithetical to the idea of God creating the universe. Though, to me "Let there be light" sounds quite a bit like a big bang. And both groups have to explain where that bang came from. I hear the best answers from the scientists who are Christians. They explain that God created the universe using the principles of physics that we see around us. That DOES make sense...

But it points to something profound, I think. We see that our human relationships often begin with a big bang of powerful love, so intense and engrossing that we can't eat or sleep because of it. We are so in love with one another that nothing else matters. We can see that in God's creation of the universe, can't we? The intensity of His love for us is so powerful that it manifests in an actual, literal explosion that fills the universe with the wonders of His creation.

I hope that we can find a little of that explosion in our own response to Him. That He would ignite us with His fire, like the burning bush, where we burn with a powerful fire, and yet are not consumed. Where He lights us up for all the world to see, shedding His light on the lives of everyone in the world, so they too might be lit up by the intensity of His love.

God, please explode the light of Your love into our lives, that we might set the world on fire.