Thoughts on Love

I found this quote the other day and have been thinking about it ever since.  I thought I'd share!  It's from C.S. Lewis' The Four Loves.

"There is no safe investment. To love at all is to be vulnerable.  Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.  If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even an animal.  Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness.  But in that casket — safe, dark, motionless, airless — it will change.  It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable... We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent in all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it.  What I know about love and believe about love and giving ones heart began in this."

I really believe that is true.  The love we feel for others is a reflection of God's love for us, so it makes sense that, despite heartache or trials, He would want us to remain open to love.  It takes a lot of faith to trust His wisdom enough to say that "if our hearts need to be broken, and if He chooses this as a way in which they should break, so be it."  I have definitely had my heart broken before.

This past year has been one of healing in more ways than I could ever have imagined.  As I have picked up and sorted through what seemed at the time like broken pieces of my life, I have certainly dealt with fear.  Fear of being lied to.  Fear of being betrayed.  Fear of being hurt.  And even fear of being alone.  But, as Elder Boyd K. Packer said, "fear is the opposite of faith."  And as my faith has grown this past year, those fears have been quieted.

Chances are, at some point in the future, I will be lied to, betrayed, and even hurt by someone I love.  That's part of life.  But I will never be alone.  The Lord is my friend and companion, and He is always by my side, guiding my path.  And I really do believe, as Alfred Lord Tennyson said, that it is "better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."  Through heartache, we grow.  We gain compassion.  We learn wisdom.  We become better.  And, if we're lucky, we walk away with our hope intact.

I've had huge opportunities for love this year too... I've developed wonderful, caring relationships with so many important people in my life: cousins, parents, friends, siblings, boyfriends, RS Sisters, coworkers, a roomate, and my students.  Through these I have been blessed beyond measure!  And I am truly grateful for the capacity I have to love.  I'm grateful that God heals broken hearts.  And mostly, I'm grateful for the love He offers me every single day.

It is changing my life!