The Endurance of Love

The workings of life enfold unto Love,

Revealing in faith fortune from above,

Divine mystery so alluring we hasten to see,

Just how God has destined us to be free.

Things we can’t help—wanting to be accepted,

And struggle as we do when we’re rejected,

Frustration and anger feigns our loss,

If only hope would now become our boss.

The romance of a thing exuding all power,

Bliss and ecstasy with which to shower,

When we’re on the side of a thing called Love,

We feel with the grace of the divine dove.

But depths of pain are known to her,

Because Love’s the power known to incur,

A thing so hard, so terribly unjust,

Grief’s now a place where travel we must.

Flavours of love—unlimited they are,

In varying directions that take us afar,

All purposed in stretching our capacities to learn,

Just so we might have the poise to discern.

Familial and congenial and infatuatedly too,

Emotive conveyance is every bit true,

Such things heap our hearts—uncompromisingly tough,

Whichever way we look at it, love is rough.

But if Love’s to be learned—a thing to be embraced,

Surely we’re to come to it with a sense of haste,

Learning’s a thing to advise what’s due,

To give wisdom in matters all too true.

Eventually we’ll reflect on what’s become,

Happiness much or maybe just some,

Love’s no fabrication—no dreamy affair,

But it often has its way if only we’ll dare.

Enjoyment or loathing and all between,

Dimensions of love all to be seen,

All experiences, as a fact, because we care,

All of us goes into it with none to spare.

Grace does accord pleasantries anew,

A broader love—our souls to imbue,

Richness to be whole, the warrant of the Lord,

In faith our love’s resiliently shored.

When all of life’s been spent here on earth,

And perhaps we’re solemn in our tribal dearth,

We can know for sure there’s more to come,

Love’s the Message, the Hope, the consummate Sum.

***

The Summum Bonum is Omnibenevolence: the highest good. It is love. God is Love. And love encapsulates all things. We enjoy life because of love. We grieve because of love. We suffer because of love. Everything of meaning has its meaning in love.

Though it’s a source of our disengagement it’s also the source for our rendezvous for a more meaningful life. It breaks us but just as formidably reassembles us, better than before. When we live for love, no matter what we go through, there is peace at the end.

© 2012 S. J. Wickham.