breaking the hush

I’ve been thinking a lot about unconditional love lately—It’s very easy for us to say that we love someone but how ‘unconditional’ is that love? I was once in love and believed that there was nothing that could have taken that love away—the way I felt in my heart was irreversible—of course, once these feelings were no longer reciprocated by the girl I knew I was to spend the rest of my life with, it became a little confusing. I became hurt and then eventually just stopped loving her. I remember being in the middle of that relationship thinking, “there is nothing that she could do to stop me from loving her,’ and then she stopped loving me and her actions showed it…somehow my love became conditional on her love in return. Maybe this is how humans are wired?

Dogs on the other hand, are different. I had a daschund (weenie dog) growing up named Sam. I love that dog—almost to death. I was kind of like that cartoon character, Myra, from Loony Toons, who ‘loved’ each and every one of her animals to the point of hugging then so hard that she nearly killed them. Well, Sam would go on regular ‘adventures’ with me. I remember dropping him in a large garbage can to see if he could get out (obviously he couldn’t, his bred to chase small creatures in the ground, not leap tall buildings.) And I may have shut the lid and left him in there a while. We had several other adventures that I won’t mention for fear of PETA;) You can only imagine what I did to my sister’s cat, which I didn’t like.

Here’s the thing, no matter what I did to that poor dog—he would still come when I called, still wag his tail when I entered the room, and still wants to lick every inch of my face if it got close enough. My understanding is that these are ways of affection shown by a dog! Sam did not need me to show him love. I was plain mean to that beautiful puppy and he continued to return to me for more ‘beatings.’ He was a glutton for punishment. A man’s best friend—unconditionally. In pondering about unconditional love, and if humans are capable, I think of Sam.

Jesus told us that the greatest command is to love God and then everyone else; just like you would love yourself. This is radical! To be so selfless! He also tells us in Luke 6 to love our enemies, and not just those who love us back, even sinners do that—we are to love everyone, whether it’s reciprocated or not. So, maybe we aren’t “wired” to love unconditionally and that’s why Jesus has to command us to do so and not just say it, but show it by giving His life as an example.

So if you’re being ‘suffocated’ by Myra or stuffed into a trash can and finding it hard to love, think of Sam or better yet, the Man who died for all of us, whether we love Him, hate Him, don’t know Him, or deny Him. This is unconditional love!