"In Love"

I've been struggling a lot lately with the concept of being "in love with Christ." And I wonder if it's because I haven't found a way to see him more tangibly. I know, that sounds odd, but go with my logic for a sec:

The Bible tells us that:

"Greater love has no one than this:

to lay down one’s life for one’s friends." -John 15:13 (NIV)

And, quite honestly, if I were faced with the choice of dying or denying Christ, I would choose death. I could not deny Him who has given me eternal life...the one who has given me my family, my very breath. How could I possibly? So, in that sense, yes I suppose I love Christ.

But dying for a cause or person is one thing. What about living for one? I admit, I fail miserably at this. Some days, yes. Some days, far from it. And I can't seem to wrap my brain around this concept of loving God with every fiber of my being, as spelled out in Luke 10:

“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ -Luke 10:27,(NIV)

Just being honest here. I love my children that way. But I'm not sure I love God that way. And I think it's because my chidlren are tangible. I can hold them. I can hug them. I can hear their sweet little voices, see their beautiful smiles. It's easy to love them, in fact. If God were more tangible to me, perhaps I could love Him as easily. Or maybe it's not supposed to be easy to love Him? Or is this some unattainable goal that we're supposed to strive for, but never achieve?

Or perhaps my concept of "love" is completely off-base? But I really struggle with how one can love God that deeply, when we cannot touch, see, hear or smell?

Is it possible to love Him with ALL of your heart, soul, mind and strength? If that's possible, I'd really like to get there. I'd love to have that kind of relationship with Him.

Great Quotes from the 15th Century

I read a wonderful quote from a German monk who lived in the 1400's today:

"God often gives in one brief moment that which He has for a long time denied."

-Thomas a Kempis

Hmmm. Ain't that the truth? The first thing I thought about when I read that quote was how God gave me a son, made me a daddy, after years and years of pleading Him for just that. I wish I could say I spent those 15 years of wanting to be a daddy holding onto faith...trusting in God. But instead, I spent them bitter. I spent them angry at my Creator. I spent them refusing to get too close to Him, out of spite.

And then...in one brief moment...God gave. God answered. Regardless of the way I treated Him, He gave me the gift I longed for...for so many years. Man, we have a loving, forgiving God!

Kempis had a couple of other great quotes:

"Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be,

since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be."

and

"If thou bear the cross cheerfully, it will bear thee."

Guess he decided to go all King James English on us for that last one...but I love it! Isn't it amazing that, over 500 years ago, someone had figured out all this stuff...yet here we are, with amazing technology, science, thought processes, and we are still learning these lessons?