Heart Therapy : Part One

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you love it yourself."
                                   - Don Miller, Author, Blue Like Jazz

I love Jesus.

Even just typing that sentence stirs up so many different reactions within me, and I know any reader will feel the same. So, I've decided that I'm going to spend the next month trying to describe it. Because, as with any relationship, we need to keep it fresh and fervent by dwelling on the foundation. I've heard love described as just as much something that happens to you as it is something you decide to do. And I think both processes are rooted in an intentional choice to enthusiastically experience those mysterious impulses.

I'm going to think "out loud" in a font that hopefully conveys sincerity. There isn't a map, or really even a definite coherence for what I'm going to work out over this time. I just want to record, probably mostly for my own reminding, how Jesus is healing me and refining me in His everlasting love. Admittedly, I'm often forthcoming to my own detriment. But, for this thing, I am hoping to stretch deep enough beyond any need for human praise and affirmation. I certainly do hope, very openly, that any readers will yearn to know and experience the love of God as I attempt to communicate it. And, I am grateful that the divine romance won't be stifled because of me if I fail to do it any justice.

I love Jesus because God overcomes my inclination to feel unlovable and unworthy. I love Jesus because I have no idea what "love" even means without His example. I love Jesus because even when I don't, or think I cannot love, there is an eternal surplus of interventions. I am in love in spite of my heart's weak response to an overwhelming stimuli.

Next, I'm going to share how Jesus loves me with an easy love. By "easy", I mean effortless, and by "effortless", I mean my own efforts.