Far from this vision of Love

"What the world needs is not great visionaries proclaiming love. We need great practitioners of love. Because the hurting don't need the message of love, they need the fruit of the message; they need to interact with love, to feel its presence, to be comforted by its touch. Talking about the love of God only goes so far as one's voice travels. Living it out goes the full distance of the universe and back, going so far as to pull all of heaven into its movements." - Mick Mooney

As i read this post on a friend's Facebook page today, it was the perfect description of the type of love my heart has always longed to give as well as receive. In the circle of churches, family and friends that have been a part of my journey, there has been tireless and tiring talk about love, -especially in Christian circles, yet for all the talk few truly heartfelt expressions of it. 

It's hard to believe that people wouldn't want to give or receive love, since all our hearts were created to give and receive it. Love that is given needs also to be received, for both the giver and receiver to find joy in it. When one party expresses love and the other rejects it, love becomes wounded. And wounded love cannot express the fullness of what it was created to be. 

Take a look around, what do you see? Do you see a world full of loveless people, or a world full of people with wounded love? God created us to love at all times, but evil has wounded love's intent. Rejection is one of the biggest wounds, another is indifference. These wounds can run deep into the heart and stifle the expressing and reception of love. Truly loving and caring people can become crippled by these wounds, especially when they've been repetitively wounded. 

People do become cold and callused after severe wounding, seemingly unlovable. Walls are built to protect their fragile hearts from feeling pain again. Even people who choose to remain vulnerable, don't always find the courage or know how to express love to it's fullest. It's never because love's not there, it's just that the walls and guards of one's heart tend to speak louder... 

Scripture says 'Perfect love drives away all fears'. There's a world full of people who fear to love or be loved. Fear is the demon that locks love away, and the evil that attempts to kill it for good. Yet it should be love that defeats all fear, if it weren't only so wounded itself. 

Yes, everyone's heart has been wounded at some point in life. Some are fortunate to be surrounded close ones who love them towards healing, while others only receive harsh words or are abandoned to their wounds. Yet God calls those who have received true love not only to share hollow words, but express this love to the unlovable, those who's hearts have been hit with crippling wounds.

Especially in this season, which can be one of the darkest seasons for many.