“Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” John 11:5

“Looking at him, Jesus loved him.” Mark 10:21

Today I’m writing this from Las Cruces, New Mexico.  As I do so the sun is rising brilliantly over the Organ Mountains, casting it’s golden rays over the expansive desert valley.  It’s the fourth of July.  Sleeping at the house where I’m staying is a good friend who served his country as a Green Beret in the Vietnam war.  My day also began by seeing a photo of a dear friend and receiving a message from another dear friend, Britt, who lives in Sweden.

What do all of these random thoughts have to do with one another?  Love.  More specifically, the many faces of love.  Love has as many different appearances as there are people—and more!

There is the love one has for their friends.  Their close friends.  And in a few cases their closest friend—their Anam Cara.   Jesus modelled that kind of love in His love for Martha and Mary and Lazarus and John, the “disciple whom Jesus loved” that reclined on His breast at the Last Supper.  Who do you love as a close friend?  Who is your Anam Cara?

There is compassionate and caring love for those who are hurting, lonely or lost. I feel that for my friend as he recovers from surgery. Jesus modeled that kind of love with many, kind of surprising with the rich young man.  Perhaps you are that person, in need of someone to share their concerned love for you.  Or maybe you’re the one who has had someone placed in their path who is in need of that type of love from you.

There is also the face of love as it is reflected in a nation.  That is what the U.S. is celebrating, at least in theory, on this day.  The committed love that caused people to serve in the military in order to protect the ideals, and the people of this nation.  Whether one agrees or disagrees with the reason the nation was at war—like Vietnam—the point is that there were many people who loved their country enough to sacrifice their lives.

There is also the love one has for the simple pleasures in life, like sun rises over mountains, or hummingbirds hovering near sweet cactus nectar, or the pungently delightful smell of the desert, especially after a rain, or the sound of silence. What sight, sound or natural experience have you had recently that has filled your heart with love?

There’s also the love of God.  This is so incredibly detailed that I can’t begin to write about it.  I’ll just say that it can be the most fulfilling yet ferocious love there is.  And the most difficult to accept for ourselves.

And WHAT ABOUT that love for ourselves?  How do I love me?  Or even before that, DO I love me?  I really, really hope so.  Because if there is anything that I’m absolutely certain of in this uncertain life and world, it is that we are ALL worthy of love, no matter how unworthy we might misbelieve that we are.  In fact, the more sick or sinful, tore up or broken down, the more God loves us!  The best analogy I can think of is that of a loving parent who, when their child is sick or hurting, loves them more, not less! God loves us more than a parent, more than we can even imagine. The question is do we believe and embrace it for ourselves? Do you love you?  How?  How do you love you?  Count the ways.

Loving oneself is absolutely essential if we are to love others, whomever they might be.  If we can see that we are truly loved and love-able, then we will be enabled to love others much more purely, genuinely and without agendas or expectations. There are so many facets and faces to love.  Where will you see love today?  Will it be the face of God in nature, or in a stranger, or a friend or a loved one?  Hopefully the first face you will see and love is the one looking back at you in the mirror.