I Might Fall in Love

If he got me flowers, I might fall in love.

If he told me I was pretty, I might fall in love.

If he took me out and asked for a second date, I might fall in love.

If he told me he enjoys talking to me, I might fall in love.

If he told me I was fast or strong for a girl, I might fall in love.

If he told me I was smart, I might fall in love.

If he took me to see a movie he loved so that I would love it too, I might fall in love.

If he told me I was different than the other girls, I might fall in love.

If he asked me to write him, I might fall in love.

If he told me he liked my dress, it would be my favorite, and I might fall in love.

If he asked me what my dreams are, I might fall in love.

                        If he told me his dreams, they might become mine, and I might fall in love.

If he asked me to join him in his dreams, I might, and I might fall in love.

But he didn't.

So I'm not in love.

But if he had, I might have fallen in love.

What is love?

What is love?

How can we define it?

Many have tried.

How can we truly know what love is?

How can we be sure?

Is love a feeling or a fancy?

Does love alter when its alteration find?

Is it an ever fixed mark?

How can we know?

I tell you this,

We can know what love is. 

It has been defined.

It has been shown through the greatest act of love there ever could be.

Death for someone else.

Giving one's life for another.

Giving one's life for a multitude of people.

Loving one that did not care. 

Loving first.

He did this for me.

He loved me first.

Christ gave himself for me.

Perfect and blameless lamb that he is.

I rejected him,

Yet, he pursued me.

This I know is love.

So I ask again,

What is love?

Christ. 

Christ is love.

"By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren." -1 John 3:16

"We love Him because He first loved us." -1 John 4:19

 

Reading Quietly

Reading, quietly. 

Listening to the words.

Listening to His voice.

The world fades,

And all that remains,

Is that still small voice.

I love to read and listen.

I did not always,

but now I do.

He has grown my love for Him.

O how I love Him. 

O how I love His law. 

I meditate on it day and night.

I want to be like a mighty tree,

planted by flowing rivers,

filled with water.

I want to drink from the living water.

My soul thirst for Him.

My soul longs for Him.

I love His law. 

I love thy law, Lord.

Continue to give me a hunger for Thy law. 

So I read,

Quietly and stilly,

Hungering for Thy law. 

I read and listen not only because I hunger,

But also to grow my hunger.

So I sit,

Reading quietly.

And Can it Be?

"And can it be that I should gain
An int'rest in the Savior's blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
That Thou, my God, should die for me?"

Very often, those words play in my head of the hymn "And Can it Be?" that Charles Wesley wrote long ago. It's one of my favorites, and I thought I would research and write up a small history of the hymn. 

"And Can it be?" was inspired by his own conversion that took place on May 21st, 1738. Charles had grown up in a Christian home and was even ordained as a priest of the Church of England in September 1735. In May of 1738, along with his brother John Wesley, Charles was in England. He had been sick and was still recovering when he stayed in the home of some people named Morivan. Strongly, he was affected by the testimonies of his hosts and others. His journal entry from May 21st writes "I now found myself at peace with God, and rejoiced in hope of loving Christ...I saw that by faith I stood, by the continual support of faith...I went to bed still sensible of my own weakness...yet confident of Christ's protection." Only three days later, his brother John had a similar experience. Charles went on to write over 6,500 hymns. Among some are "Jesus, Lover of my Soul", "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing", "Christ the Lord is Risen Today", and "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing."