As a parent with a window into a daughter’s evolving relationship with a young man, they have me thinking about the “L” word, love. Whereas I am predominantly right-brained, the two of them are predominantly lefties; both scientific, reason- and logic-based thinkers, and both highly intelligent, rational people. However, she, much like her mother, is also a reactive woman; thus, she is also somewhat right-brained and well-acquainted with her reliable emotions as well as her logic (even should she deny this).
Nancy Levant – Aug7
This young couple is working their way through the processes of acquainting, relating, coupled enjoyments, and considering their futures both as separate people with life goals and as a potential married couple. I have been considering their process with great interest, laughter and fascination as they work together rationally, logically, with great care and purpose, much like Spock A and Spock B. Frankly, it’s kind of funny, but I also see the developing emotional side of their relationship; the desire to be together, to talk, to walk, and to be in ever closer physical proximity, the clear indicators of the “L” word working its magic. Magic, however, it is not.
Love is not only the greatest virtue in humankind, it is also a divine attribute of God as is wrath. Made in this image, we are bequeathed both the ability to love and to experience wrathfulness; again, both divine in their very natures. As such, examining love in terms of theoretical reasoning or logical constructs is…illogical (Mama Spock). A divine attribute, which is also the greatest virtue, simply is. Just as the earth, the air, and the waters factually exist, so does love as an undeniable quintessence of God’s nature and ours as well. Love is not a feeling or condition or a formulation of an experimental nature. It is not a major or minor premise, nor is it logical or illogical; it is, in and of itself, divine. “…God is Love” (NKJ, 1 John 4:8).
As the current culture disregards the importance of marriage, making its ending a woop-de-do party scenario and particularly for lawyers, I would ask both these young people and everyone to consider that when we are commanded to love ourselves, our neighbors, and our enemies, the “L” word is 1) fundamental to any comprehension of God or self, 2) fundamental to spiritual connectivity, 3) is not a premise to be manipulated or theorized, and 4) it is profoundly, spiritually important to understand that it exists as the very glue for souls blessed by a divine uniting. Love “is”, and though it coexists with wrath, it cannot be rationally, logically, or reasonably experimented upon without sin, much like the earth, the waters, or the very air we breathe; it is the fundamental essence of divinity. All glory to God and, in His image, love just is.
