Giving and receiving love!

When we talk about the kind of love with which we want to be loved, most of us would clearly and emphatically specify that it be unconditional. I don’t want you to love me for what I can do for you or because I please your expectations. I want you to love me for better or worse, in sickness and in health, with no strings attached. I can’t sell out my person to buy your love.

However, when we are discussing the kind of love which we are willing to give, it is not so clear. Most of us want to be more tentative in case things don’t work out. To give my word and to promise unconditional faithfulness to that word is more than a little frightening. We want to leave a back door open, an escape hatch. It is so much easier to be an unencumbered butterfly, flitting from flower to flower. It is so much harder to take plunge into an unconditional commitment. It seems much less frightening to travel with a tent than to build a permanent home.