March 16, 2006
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Impactful excerpts from No Man is an Island, by Thomas Merton.
“Unselfish love
that is poured out on a selfish object does not bring perfect
happiness: not because love requires a return or a reward for loving,
but because it rests in the happiness of the beloved.”I have found this to be true, unfortunately, by experience.
There have been Adrogynous Nics whom I have loved and invested in, but
it was like pouring a glass of water into the Grand Canyon. There
is a hole so large and so void in our hearts that it simply cannot be
filled except by the love of our Lord Jesus Christ. Sure, that
glass of water that I bring to the Canyon might be a momentary
distraction. It might even seem like it’s enough to get someone
through the day, but come tomorrow, that canyon will be dry as a bone
again. What I bring is just not enough. What any person
brings, no matter who they are, cannot fill that void. Until that
void is filled, the person will never be happy…which is just stating
the obvious. Here’s another obvious statement; the void can only
be filled by Jesus.The love of Jesus is like 1000 Niagra Falls on 1000 planets in 1000
star systems. Unquenchable, unending, everlasting. It makes
the Grand Canyon look like a thimble trying to swallow the Hoover
Dam. There is no limit to that love. When a person goes to receive
the love of Christ, this hole is filled until it is overflowing with
abundance. That’s it. It doesn’t get much more complicated
than that. But that reception of love must happen first, before
anything else… and it must happen daily. If we at any time stop
going to Him to receive that love and look for it in another, it will
be vanity. Nothing will come of it. The Grand Canyon will
return and that hole will be as dry as dust.Jesus wants to love you…. you need to receive
it. Once that has happened, the little glass of water that I or
anyone else brings will be the providential whip cream and a cherry on
top.
