Love, A Many Splendored Thing

Snowflakes floated silently from the dark night sky while two lovers strolled, hand in hand, down the moonlit street. Reaching the door, their hearts wrenched knowing one would enter and one must leave. A good-bye kiss and adoring embrace made them yearn for another and then another. Through rose-colored glasses, they viewed life and dreamed of the day they would never part.

Ah love, in the beginning of a relationship, it saturates our whole body and we feel as though we’re walking three feet off the ground. Every waking moment is consumed with thoughts of our beloved and our nighttime dreams enhance passion.

Then as time passes, love settles down to a comfortable relationship and deepens. But sometimes, it fades and our heart is broken. Still, regardless of love’s ups and downs, it is our most wonderful emotion and love, as the song says, is a many splendored thing.

Splendored; such a unique word. It’s mid-15th century Middle French, taken from the Latin, meaning “brilliance”. So, like a gleaming, faceted diamond capturing and disbursing dazzling light, is this many splendored thing called love.

Scripture speaks much of love, for our God is love. It tells us He dwells in unapproachable light called His Shekinah glory. This God, who breathed His word through Paul, said, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

(I Corinthians 13:13)

Why, is love the greatest? Because first, without love, faith and hope cannot exist. And second, we would not even possess the ability to love had Almighty God not created us in His image.

I Corinthians 15:39 explains, “All flesh is not the same flesh, but there is one kind of flesh of men, another flesh of animals, another of fish, and another of birds.” God gave animals a very limited ability to love, but since He created only mankind in His image, our love capacity is almost boundless. So, because our God is Triune, we love in a myriad of different ways, using our body, mind, and spirit.

Nevertheless, sin corrupts human love. Some yield to the Source of Love and others reject Him.

In Ezekiel 16:6-8, God explains how He saw us struggling, drowning in our sin and He said to us, “Live!” He made us thrive like a plant in the field and when we were ready for love, He came. He spread His wing over us covering our nakedness. He entered into a covenant with us and claimed us as His own.

This is our God! He said, "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.” (Jeremiah 31:3)

Our God is the greatest love we will ever have, because it is full and complete.

Like the facets of a brilliant diamond, God gave us the capacity and responsibility to disburse His love.

But, we love, because He first loved us. And, for this reason, love is truly a many splendored thing, because its origin is God.