'God is love', my philosophy teacher told me. 'God is love'. But you could see the but coming. It hanged in the air like a luminescent reindeer, waiting to be dropped on us. 'But what does that
mean?' he said. The reindeer came crashing down to the ground with all the grace and subtlety of a drunken ballerina.
What does that mean? Well, it turns out that it means nothing. How can we relate anything to God if we know nothing of His nature? It makes no sense. I was happy. I made the notes, smiled the knowing smile, and listened to the stupid questions that the class know-it-all had to offer.
But today I am thinking that perhaps there is a connection. God, it seems, is a entity comprised of opposites. You can't quite know what God is, but at the same time many people are aware of the presence of something. Something they cannot quite define, but seems omnipresent and all-powerful.
Perhaps God is not like love - but Love is like God. Where do I see love at a party? Is it in the exchanged looks of a friend of mine with someone he has just met? Those looks which promise much but guarantee nothing? Of course - love is about passion, the flaring possibilities of everything all mingled into one moment, one expression, one exchange.
But then I look across the room. My best friend is dancing with one of my oldest friends. Their bodies are flying around, careless and free, composing their own dance moves which no-one else in the room understands but ones which their bodies have known all their life. And here, it is not the looks they share with each other, but the way their eyes burn with enthusiasm as they look anywhere else. The world is on fire. It is alive again, bright and shocking.
But then I turn back to who I am standing with. Locked in my arms is the woman I have loved for almost two years. She is standing there, swaying in a rhythm my feeble body cannot quite keep up with, giving me looks I cannot quite return. But no matter what I do, or how hard I try, the looks do not become less loving, nor her grip any less tight. We are locked together, dancing in a way we do not care about. Floating on a wave of love, her bright hazel eyes staring deep into mine.
What is the difference between my brother holding hands with the little girl from across the road and telling me they are going to be married one day, and I whispering it to my girlfriend? Is there difference in the passion of a first, clumsy kiss and the powerful embrace of two lifelong lovers? Does the single red rose mean less to a woman than the expensive dress? Is there any difference between the promised love, the honest love or the hollywood love?
No. Love, like God, is everywhere and in all forms. If you know where to look for it, you will assuredly find it. If you are convinced it does not exist, you will never come across it. Love is passionate, but love is shy. Love is generous, but love is wanting too. Love is binding, but love is also liberating.
"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself; it is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." (Corinthians 1, 13:4-7) - and above all of this, no matter how much or little love you think you have as you read this, love is what a human being makes it. Go out and greet the world warmly today. If there is someone special to you, tell them that they are. How many people across Asia do you think are already wishing they had done this last year? So today, work a little better, smile a little broader, love a little harder. Love is out there. Embrace it, take it up with open arms, and it will embrace you too.
Love, as they say, is all around.
