Old Love

 

Year 9- Day 45: Today, I am grateful for old love. 

I love Valentines Day, not for the gifts, but for the reminder to be grateful for the loves in our lives. The Love-of-My-Life has been my Valentine for 36 years. He shows love to me and our family in many ways, every single day. My gratitude is deep and full. 

I love to write... and I love to use many adjectives, adverbs and metaphors.  It is why I love the writings of Ann Voskamp. Here is what she writes about "old love". 

"Old love is the most suggestive love of all because it suggests that the whole of us is actually known and we are still whole heartedly loved." -Ann Voskamp

Yes... those who know us naked. Physically... yes... but even scarier is being know to the deepest part of our naked souls. Nothing hidden. Our flaws are exposed and even magnified at times. Old love is a real love that can be as raw as it is sweet. It is why the loss of a spouse is completely devastating. 

Today is a beautiful day to celebrate all that can be said with just a look... or a touch... or finishing a sentence started by someone deeply loved. 

I am determined to not get old in spirit.  Old love doesn't mean a double rocking chair... although I do love a good rocking chair. Old love marries comfort with conscientiously caring for another's heart with tender hands. Old loves means we know their buttons... and can choose not to push them. Old love can be just as flirty as new love, but with fewer unknowns. For those who do the work to get to the season of "old love", it is one of life's richest blessings. It, definitely, takes two doing the work. 

I am always taken aback by Christ's desire to know us to the core. The scriptures say were were known when we were knit together in our mother's womb. Even before our first breath, we were loved and cherished. For those who have found disappointment in earthly loves, there is a God who took on human skin so that each of us could experience that "old love" kind of love. He loved us at our worst and celebrates us at our best. 

"but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:8

His devotion never falters. His love never fails. For those who believe, receive and choose a relationship with him, we can be completely known and completely covered in His blood and His love.  It is the oldest of love stories. 

Today, I am grateful for old love.