Love is not enough?

I have heard this said more times than I care to count. Love is just not enough.

It’s a statement that’s always bothered me, but one I almost believed.

I would hear it in conversations, and with burrowed brows nod in response. It always sounded so appealing, like it could be true, yet I could never get rid of the irritation I felt every time I heard it.

Like an itch that cannot be ignored, I could not turn a deaf ear to love is just not enough. The more it nagged, the more I contemplated but the unsettled feeling remained. Like I had unfinished business.

A dear friend visited this past week, and having her around was comforting. It was like stretching out in front of a wood burning fire place on a cold winter night, wrapped in a luxurious Egyptian 1200 thread count goose down comforter, with a cup of decadent hot chocolate made with cocoa imported from the shores of Belgium, and spruced up with a shot of rum. It was seriously all the feels.

On one of the days, we let our adventurous selves out, and went on a two hour long walk/hike resulting in 12,000+ steps, and all before noon. Yup! we were pretty gassed! to the point of feeling like we were very deserving of the gift of sprawling on the couch for the rest of the day, binge watching tv series and munching on colossal amounts of Angie’s boom chicka pop sweet & salty kettle corn. But lest I digress.

We talked about so much, dancing around different topics, including relationships. Of course the statement, love is just not enough reared its head, and I heard myself saying, if love is not enough, then God is not enough. It felt like whiplash (minus the neck muscle tears). Like I was jolted into a new level of consciousness — a deeper revelation. I looked calm and assured on the outside, like it was something I had said many times before, but on the inside I was hysterical, dancing like David danced because AH HA! that is why it nagged. I needed to make this connection.

The one who doesn’t love has yet to know God, for GOD IS LOVE.

1 John 4:8, TPT

Love is just not enough, typically said in the context of a romantic relationship sounds intelligent because it glorifies our emotions, but if we truly understand what love is, the appeal of that statement turns sour. 

Love IS enough. It is the good soil from which life sprouts. It is the solid foundation on which lives, unions and homes are built. Love is so expansive, it covers a multitude of sins. Love is not rigid. Instead, it makes allowances for faults. Love should not be placed in the limited box of human reasoning. Love should definitely not be dwarfed by human conditions and flaws.

This might be a hard pill to swallow, but love really isn’t about you. God first loved you, so you could pour it out. The more you pour out, the more he gives. Love is about revealing His glory.

Every time you think love is just not enough, look at the example of Jesus. As annoying, messed up, head strong, haughty, irritating (insert your own words) as we are, he still laid down His life. It is this sacrificial side of love that makes people say love is just not enough, and that’s a cop out. Love is not a place holder, it is in doing. Love near or from afar, but love.

Jesus stretched on the cross, bruised, bleeding and tired as all heck shows that love is enough. Like him, we just have to be willing to roll up our sleeves, and put in the work.

Happy monyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

xoxo