Perfectly loving

Dearly Beloved,

Grace and Peace to you.
         
         

Be perfectly loving, therefore,
as your heavenly Lover is perfectly loving.
         —Matthew 5.48


Infinite Lover,
I want to be loving.
But sometimes my heart flows with some love
and some fear, some anger,
some wanting control.
I react. I'm defensive.
I come at people as if they are
my problem, my regret, my weakness.
My love gets trampled,
swamped by a dozen other things.
I am loving unless I have a point to make,
a lesson to teach, a score to win,
a character to defend, a wound to vent.

Help me to be more than partly loving,
but purely loving, loving to everyone,
not just the easy times, the easy people.
The hard ones are not ghosts from my darkness,
but wounded lovers, worthy of your love.
Sun of love, dawn in me;
forgive my self-centeredness
as morning forgives night.
Receive all that is not loving in me,
transfigure it in the light of your grace,
and flood me with your perfect love.
After all, though I am such a poor lover,
you love me perfectly.

Just so: each person you send me, remind me:
I am here only to love them,
only to love them,
purely to love.


         
Deep Blessings,
Pastor Steve

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Copyright © Steve Garnaas-Holmes
Unfolding Light
www.unfoldinglight.net