Not My Own

Love
The one thing every human wants and needs in life is love. True love. Unconditional love. Love that will never change, no matter what we do. Without this love in our life, we simply exist. We breathe in and out to fill our lungs, but no life fills our spirit.
Recently, loneliness came over me as I sat in a room with some dear friends. I felt absent from the conversation and absent from the camaraderie of the others. As I drove home I wondered if I truly had friends who loved me. Today is Maundy Thursday, the day before Jesus went to the cross to die and I’m reminded of his time with close friends on the night before his death. They sat around a dinner table and enjoyed a meal together. I wonder if Jesus felt loved by them. Did he feel loneliness in the midst of their company? One of those very dear friends, whom he’d trusted, would betray him and send him to his death. Another would deny that he’d ever known Jesus. Is that love? Why does human love fail us sometimes? We question the love of others. We don’t love ourselves. We wonder what love really is. “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.” The true love that we seek is not of this world. Wonderful friends and family cannot fulfill us with their human love. True love can only come from God through Jesus. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” The love of Jesus never fails, never disappoints, never runs out.