we love anyway

In the One Year Bible, we read today from Luke 13:22-14:6. Jesus tells us that Jerusalem has prevented Him from gathering the little ones under His arms like a hen gathers its chicks. And this makes Him sad.

It's amazing to realize that the all powerful omnipotent God can be thwarted by tiny, silly little humans like us. That He allows us to hurt Him. He makes Himself vulnerable to us, by loving us. And we hurt Him.

That's a good lesson to learn, because it's pretty much true in all of life. When we love someone, we put ourselves at their mercy. We make ourselves vulnerable. And in almost every case, we get hurt. Even if they love us back and we spend many years together... eventually one of us dies. Loving means getting hurt.

But as God demonstrates, it's worth it. And one day, we will be with Him in a place where all tears are wiped away, and the joy never ends. Then we'll know what love really means. In the meantime, we love anyway.

God, thank You for teaching us what love means.