I have spent the majority of the past month with my nose in a book, and not just any book. I was immersed in a world full of wands, spells, and invisibility cloaks tied in with good conquering evil, sacrificial love, and the sweetness of genuine friendship. As the books came to a close, I began to notice a theme I had never quite grasped in previous readings of the Harry Potter series. Harry was so loved by so many. His parents. Sirius. Dumbledore. Ron. Hermione. Ginny. Even Snape. These people treasured Harry; they believed in him and his purpose. This led me back to a universal longing in human hearts to be loved, and not some frilly, Valentines day love, but a love so strong and so deep that a persons very worth can be derived from it.
“How bold one gets when one is sure of being loved” -Sigmund Freud
The logical part of my brain (smaller than the average humans) began rolling. If truth really is true, and it is, then I am perfectly loved.
Without love, my heart is merely an organ pumping blood through a lifeless body; my purpose is shrouded by dark clouds of insignificance, regret, confusion, anxiety…
But once I am loved, I erupt with life seeping out of every pore. Ceaseless joy. Peace transcending all understanding. And because this love can’t be taken from me, I have freedom to live apart from fear.
Some may claim that living fearlessly stems from ignorance and naivety. I disagree, and have come to the conclusion based on what I know is truth that the opposite is true: The presence of fear stems from ignorance and naivety.
Trouble will come regardless of whether I fear or not.
So if I choose to live with the love that only Jesus can give me, though troubles come, there will always be hope. Always. Hope of freedom from whatever is weighing down my heart, hope of peace despite circumstances, hope of joy abounding. So really, fear is illogical.
If I choose to live without this love, I attempt to endure the trials of life alone; I would be forever chained by my own confusion which leads to an endless, exhausting pursuit of something, anything that would satisfy, when really only one thing can.
Despite the fact that I definitely haven’t mastered the art of living in this love, I am learning. Though I still have fears, I am slowly but surely abandoning every one of them. I have hope. I will always have hope. You do too.
“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge- that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God”
-Ephesians 3:16-19
