I was about 14, I think, when I first “fell in love.” It didn’t stick. I sort-of tried it a few more times before I found the one with whom I was meant to spend the rest of my life. (Full disclosure: I met my wife when I was just 16!) Falling in love is a tricky thing, it seems. Some of us get lucky and blessed. Others experience heartache and disappointment. Falling and staying in love has much to do with having mutual respect and faith in each other, as well as allowing ourselves to be changed for the good by the other.
And so it goes with God. When we really decide for ourselves that we are going to allow God to be part of our lives, it is akin to falling in love, to opening ourselves to God’s love and allowing God to change us in ways that we cannot fathom or expect. Nevertheless, we open ourselves to just that kind of transformation, trusting that we’ll come out better than when we started. I can’t imagine how different my life would be if I hadn’t spent the last 35 years or so slowly and hesitantly falling in love with God. This is not a “love at first sight, head over heels” kind of love. This love is a gentle “turning toward” what is already present in all of our lives, a recognition and acceptance of the perfect love that lies within our reach if we will only stretch across the short distance and grasp it.
The following poem/prayer by Fr. Pedro Arrupe, SJ, speaks more eloquently than I ever could about this idea of falling in love with God:
Nothing is more practical than finding God, than
falling in Love
in a quite absolute, final way.
What you are in love with,
what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.
It will decide
what will get you out of bed in the morning,
what you do with your evenings,
how you spend your weekends,
what you read, whom you know,
what breaks your heart,
and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.
Fall in Love, stay in love,
and it will decide everything.
From Finding God in All Things: A Marquette Prayer Book © 2009
Ask yourself in silence: Am I willing to allow myself to be changed by the One who loves me?
Fall in love, stay in love, and it will DECIDE everything.
It is so beautiful, and so simply true!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear!
Thanks for this very strong assertion, that is really the crux of our faith.
So wonderfully proud that we have a good friend in you.
Anthony.
Thanks, Anthony. I love Arrupe’s poem…such powerful words. Hope you’re having a great day.