On Sunday the 23rd Pete challenged us from the words in 1 John to take loving one another seriously.
Here's my paraphrase:
Love is not nice.
‘Nice’ is soft and inoffensive.
‘Nice’ is careful and non-assertive.
‘Nice’ is easy and effects no change.
She’s cotton wool trying to soften the pain,
but not stuffed tight, just resting on the surface,
ready to be blown away
or be pressed under a muddy boot of disinterest.
‘Nice’ is a damp whisper.
A mouse cowering in the corner,
hoping you will blink and miss her,
lest she attract your notice,
lest she presume too much
and cause a whisker of offence.
Love is not like that –
Love pushes in, quick and nimble:
A hero with no mask, unasked,
unexpected, dodging the turmoil,
leaving nothing unsaid and little undone
in her pursuit of creating a counter-disruption.
Love defies convention.
Love carefully aims her weapons of choice
and advances relentless and regardless
of any and all obstacles in her way.
Love perseveres all the love-long day
Love doesn’t delay.
Love is gleeful for the chance of invasion,
ready to disarm with expert compassion
with her regiments of patience,
armed to the teeth with gracious,
placing tanks of good faith on all fronts.
Love confronts.
Courage is her currency, kindness her language.
Trust and hope are her passports to lands long unexplored,
happily wearing all-weather clothing
for any and all unexpected storms
Love transforms.
Love weakens all defences
and challenges all camouflaged pretences.
Love pours itself out to fill unhealed wounds
and on shrapnel-seeded battlefields
she - blooms.
Love perfumes.
Love is not 'nice'.
Love isn’t in this for the likes.
Love bites.
She’s a take-on-all-comers, undefeated delight
Love never bails from the fight,
never fails, never takes flight.
Love is nothing casual,
nothing incidental.
This love is elemental.
She is Avengers-Assemble,
End-Game-level, monumental.
Love is not 'nice'.
Love keeps on loving at any price.
Go to 1 John, chapters 1-5 for the original.
Steve is Redeemer’s resident poet, and has been instrumental in encouraging and motivating other creative individuals at Redeemer to pursue the gifting God has placed in them! You can read his poetry HERE, or find his anthologies on Amazon.
