What Does Love Look Like?

So it's Valentine's Day. I spent my morning walking all over Nicosia with my friend Carolyn trying to pick up a package my Momma sent me. First, we went to the wrong post office [where they insisted we go in the back storage room and literally sort through the packages just to make sure it wasn't there.] Then, I called a cab... didn't know where I was, so some random guy outside the gas station had to tell the driver on the phone... told him something in Greek, hung up, and handed the phone back to me. At this point I had no idea if a cab was coming, all I knew was that I had 40 minutes to get to who knows where before they shipped my package back to the US! Oh dear. Well, we finally made it, and it was totally worth it. It is by far the greatest Valentines package ever [teddy bear, chocolates, cards, the works!] Thanks Momma... you're the best :)

But back to Valentine's Day...

My cab driver today brought up the holiday, and when I asked if he had a Valentine, he responded, "One flower, because we only have one heart." What a beautiful response. One heart... One love. Love. And there it is... the real reason for this holiday. The cab driver asked me if I had a Valentine. I laughed.. "No." He asked why not... "I haven't found anyone that lives up to any of my expectations of what love really is." And isn't that the truth? Because we've been told the greatest love story of all time... how can anyone live up to that?

This is one of my favorite songs ever... and it is the most beautiful, perfect description of a love story of all time...

“What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been pondering

“What does love look like?” is the question I’ve been asking of You

I once believed that love was romance, just a chance

I even thought that love was for the lucky and the beautiful

I once believed that love was a momentary bliss

But love is more than this

All You ever wanted was my attention

All You ever wanted was love from me

All You ever wanted was my affections, to sit here at Your feet

Then I sat down, a little frustrated and confused

If all of life comes down to love,

Then love has to be more than sentiment

More than selfishness and selfish gain

And then I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me

I saw Him there, hanging on a tree, looking at me

He was looking at me, looking at Him, staring through me

I could not escape those beautiful eyes

And I began to weep and weep

He had arms wide open, a heart exposed

Arms wide open; He was bleeding, bleeding

Love’s definition, love’s definition was looking at me

Looking at Him, hanging on a tree

I began to weep and weep and weep and weep

This is how I know what love is, this is how I know what love is

And as I sat there weeping, crying

Those beautiful eyes, full of desire and love

He said to me, “You shall love Me, You shall love Me

You shall love Me, You shall love Me”

With arms wide open, a heart exposed

With arms wide open, bleeding, sometimes bleeding

If anybody’s looking for love in all the wrong places

If you’ve been searching for love, come to Me, come to Me

Take up your cross, deny yourself

Forget your father’s house and run, run with Me

You were made for abandonment, wholeheartedness

You were made for someone greater, someone bigger, so follow Me

And You’ll come alive when you learn to die