Thursday, December 29, 2011

Love is an Arrow

Did you know that life on earth is a line segment? I mean, I hate to break out the high school math back on ya, but life has a starting point, a steady constant time speed, and an ending point.  Sometimes it may seem like life is going faster than it is at other times, but then we digress into relativity and I lose grasp of this catchy little visual.  A line segment is classified by it's finite characteristics. 

Love on the other hand is like a never ending arrow.  The question is, where is that arrow pointing?  This holiday season has got me thinking a lot about love and Christmas and this countries culture.  This Christmas I got fortunate enough to finally land a job at Target after a very long job search that lasted well over a year.  Unfortunately it was only seasonal.  While working there on the days leading up to Christmas, I was quite disturbed at a Christmas culture that I guess I had chosen to ignore.  Mothers would come in looking for presents for their kids.  They would unravel lists I thought I would only see on Santa movie specials.  Very specific lists I should add.  And if they felt one kid was getting more presents than another, it was crucial to give the other kid more.  I thought Christmas was supposed to be about love! Love among friends and family and most importantly about God, a God that was born a man more than 2000 years ago because he loved us so much. 

The problem with the love I witnessed with the all too common Christmas culture in America is that it is also a line segment.  It goes from one person to another and ends there.  Love, true love that is, has no ending.  A gift of true love is a never-ending arrow straight upward that involves both people.  It should make both the gift giver look upward, and the gift receiver look upward.  Last time I checked, a video game, or a dinosaur, or a brand new tv, has never pointed me upward toward God.  In fact, they usually do the opposite.  In most instances, they waste time, they tempt, and they cut off relationships.  Don't get me wrong, presents are nice and fun and fun to give.  However, most of the time the reactions elicited by Christmas are jealousy, guilt, pride, solitude, laziness, all of which are missing the point of the CHRISTmas meaning. 

Love is not finite, it is most definitely infinite.  You can never reach a limit on love.  That is most definitely exampled by God who has a limitless reach to His love for us.  During times of this life where there seems to be no direction, or times where life seems to be flying by too fast, times where you are bored out of your mind, or others where you are too busy to do anything but work and sleep, the way to get off the segment (figuratively and literally) is to love.  For by loving others and pointing your arrow to God you are in fact making your life line segment an arrow as well.  The great thing about a segment and an arrow is that, when added, they will always make an arrow. 

Christmas day has already come and gone, but starting this new year off, make a resolution to love others at every chance, with every conversation! Let others come to know the God of love through letting God love through you.  There is no more important calling.  Love God! Love Others! Boom roasted.

Happy New Years