Good morning, Lord.

“Good morning.  Let go of the weight on your shoulders. You look tired and you look heavy-hearted.”

“I am, Lord.  I am tired and I am somewhat sad.  I am happy to say I have not felt sadness like this for a long time. I’ve been running with joy in the sunshine and feeling really good.  Learning so much. Learning of you and your love to me and learning to love those around me.”

“And then it all hit a little too close to home, didn’t it?”

“I suppose so.”

“Let me share this with you about love.  It is not something you can put into a box to give someone.  Once you box it up, you have set it apart, you set it away from you. It is no longer part of you, and so it is no longer love.  Love is only shared in relationship.”

“And in relationship you are not in control of the other person.  Sometimes you’re not even in control of yourself – or so it seems. Love is not just up to you. It’s what is shared between the persons,” I throw into the conversation.

“That’s a good start,” the Lord tells me, “but go beyond that.  It does not end with what you share. It lives beyond the interaction, beyond what you can touch, beyond what you can control.  True love has nothing to do with the other person; and at the same time it has everything to do with the other person.  Think about that for a while.”

“I’ll have to think about that for a real long while,” I respond.  Admittedly, the thought is beyond my grasp at the moment.

“Okay. You’ve got lots of time.  Go ahead and give it all the time and space you need to consider it.  I’ll be around when you want to talk further.”

“Fair enough, Lord.  Fair enough.”