birthday love

i'm finding that i don't know much about love... even though i am positive that i have learned so much in the past few years about loving my brothers and sisters and loving the poor, downtrodden, and outcast. i mean, this is the type of love i know best. community love, family love. but i've got to believe that this is only one face of a multifaceted Love.

as he and i strive to love each other, we both acknowledge that we don't know exactly what love is, what love looks like, how love acts, etc. and, realizing this, i was feeling so helpless and confused and lost and overwhelmed....

but when i read over the infamous love chapter in 1 corinthians, i am reminded that "for now, we know in part..., but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears.... now we see but a poor reflection, as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. now i know in part; then i shall know fully, even as i am fully known."

wow. so maybe it is ok to not have everything figured out. now we know in part what love is, and we do our best to love each other--and somehow that's good enough.

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i’m still learning what love is,
when i’m walking close to you,
the best way to hold your hand in mine,
the best way to comfort you.

guess it may
guess it may
guess it may
guess it may,
it may always be this way.
[rosie thomas]