The Richest Love

“THE RICHEST love grows in the soil of an unbearable disappointment with life. When we realize life can’t give us what we want, we can better give up our foolish demand that it do so and get on with the noble task of loving as we should.” (Larry Crabb)

Now, you may be thinking, WOW, what a positive quote. . . . NOT. Well, for me, the above writing was and is real in my life. Too often, I would move towards things in this world to find happiness. I would move towards wrong actions, or good actions with wrong motives, to numb past pains or pains of the present. I would look to those that I loved to fill certain voids or love me in a way that I felt I needed to be loved. It can be very exhausting, tiresome, a never-ending running of a race but in running the race the progress made seems to just be an illusion, a covering up, or avoidance of any real progress internally. I remember the year I made the most money as a real estate agent, finished top in our brokerage, and top 5 in the Denver Metro region. I would say that I was confused as there was this slight “ache”, a disappointment in an odd way, of not feeling “happy”. You may be thinking to yourself something was wrong with me. YES, I AGREE that there was. If your honest however, you may have, or do, experience feelings of “is this what life is about?? Is this all that there is??” For many, or like me, we move towards another goal hoping that it will satisfy. Heck, we say things to ourselves, or read them, “it’s not about the goal but the journey towards the goal” or “we set goals for the person we must become in order to achieve the goal we set”. The “stretching” it provides. Now PLEASE here me. I am not against goal setting. I am not against stretching ourselves but I am merely saying we MUST BE AWARE of our thinking that in reaching them it will bring true happiness. . . . . is happiness our goal however???

So, what are we to do? Well, we will move together through this journey discussing such things. I am learning and working towards figuring things out in my life and this blog I hope will spur you to think on your life as well. But, I do know however that Jesus gives us two great commandments we can start with. He said they are the greatest so they must be and if that is the case I want to focus on that. Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 26:37-39)

Going back to the beginning quote, it may seem disappointing, heck, maybe it is but to me that is ok. In a way it is a freeing up and/or release at looking to life to fill a void that cannot be filled by the things of this world. I am not saying don’t enjoy nice things. I am not saying don’t appreciate the beauty that life can bring and is around us. The little and big blessings are there to be taken in gratitude and appreciation. I am merely saying, as I feel Larry Crabb was saying, let’s stop demanding life and others to bring us happiness and instead focus on loving God, knowing Him more, and also love others freely without expectations or self-protection. I feel once we begin to focus on that life may shift for us and disappointments will not 100% go away BUT we will be able to use what disappointments do come in a way that grows our love for our Heavenly Father that might of otherwise never been there.