The Ultimate Love Story

 My favorite type of story is a love story...

What can I say?  I'm an old-fashioned woman with deep romantic sensibilities.  Give me a story line that shows sparks when a man meets a woman, and I'm hooked!  Unlikely romance is my favorite: one that presents thick walls to overcome.  Love stories filled with hardship, obstacles, pain, but also comedy and lightheartedness, but above all, with deep, profound longing and uncertain resolution grab me like a powerful magnet.  Nobody in this house gets near my streaming profiles...they know they won't find anything they want in there... My Netflix and Amazon Prime are filled with the whole gamut of romance genre: from period films to Korean Dramas...it might seem pathetic, but such is my reality.

I need to believe that love still conquers all!

I need to see that women are still worth pursuing, and that there are men willing to pursue them.  I want to see men who are not deterred in their efforts to win their woman's heart.  I need to believe that there are still men who are strong and masculine, and that women are strong enough to not be afraid of that...as they acknowledge their deep desire to experience that strength from the man they love.  I want to see hope when all seems hopeless.  I need to see love when once there was loneliness.

Pathetic? Perhaps...

Unrealistic? Maybe...

Inappropriate and not PC for today's sensibilities? Well, I'm a rebel, what can I say? ;) 

I believe, such is the love story God has written and performed for us since the beginning of time.  In the Garden, He pursued Adam and Eve when they committed the sin that marked humanity's history (Genesis 3: 8-9).  And He continues to call us to Himself.  But we are so deaf and uninterested in what He has to offer, that we tune Him out.  Does that deter Him?  Of course not!  We are His masterpiece, made to love Him.  So, He comes down from Heaven...He abandons His Royal Dwelling and descends to the lowest pit on earth just so He could be with us and we could know Him better.  And what do we do? We crucify Him.  And what does He do? He comes back to live, gives us His presence in our hearts and goes on to prepare a room for us so He can come and pick us up to go with Him and live in His presence forever!

His is the love story of the strong groom who is willing to do anything to win the heart of His beloved.  We are His beloved...and all we have to do is be strong enough to be the bride that waits for Him.

His is the love that leaves no doubt, and that is willing to pursue us... like the song say:

And oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine
And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God, yeah

There's no shadow You won't light up
Mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
There's no wall You won't kick down
Lie You won't tear down
coming after me.

Some don't like this song because they don't like to think of God's love as reckless. I love it, because it speaks to my heart, and it reminds me that God's love is boundless, limitless, and reckless into Himself, for He does not mind to endure the consequences of what He has done, and the impact those actions have onto Himself. He did it and continues to do it anyway. Jesus allowed Himself to be flogged, humiliated, punished and killed for me. His sacrifice was done for love.

Our story with Jesus is the ultimate love story. All others are just but an insipid imitation. And that's why I long for romance...because it reminds me of the One who pursues me and loves me like nobody else does.