Wednesday's Word - Love's Bifocals

Wednesday's Word - Love's Bifocals

Tell me, if you please, what comes to mind,
when you hear the cliché that “Love is Blind”?
I ask because it honestly seems to me
that love, if nothing else can perfectly see.
I would even submit as a matter of fact,
the reason love’s vision remains intact.
Now a person may choose to blind him or herself,
putting their sensibilities up on the shelf.
But No! That’s not love, though we call it such.
We blindly mistake “I’m happy” with “I love you so much.”
Love wears bifocals. A unique prescription for each eye,
I’ll take just a moment to tell you how and why.
The right eye of love wants you to prosper and flourish;
this lens my friend, is the lens I call Nourish.
The other eye looks deep. Purposing to see the good.
The lens of Cherish is often misunderstood.
Nourish sees your potential and rolls up its sleeves,
not as concerned with what you want as much as with what you need.
Cherish brings the balance, assuring you that you belong.
Wrapping you in a warm embrace that’s as gentle as it is strong.
Cherish duly appreciates. Yes, Cherish rightly affirms.
But it doesn’t block nourishing, when its time for Nourish’s turn.
Nourish isn’t cold and callous. Not abusive or unkind.
But Nourish may not coddle much. Do you still think love is blind?
Take the idea of a newborn babe; And look at a Mother’s love –
see how Cherish and Nourish complement each other, just like a hand in glove.
Cherish without Nourish simply won’t do,
as the infant remains weak and small
Nourish without Cherish is dysfunctional too,
the word “family” will mean nothing at all.
But somehow as grown-ups, we often forget and redefine the idea of love
We replace what’s real with “the way that I feel” – and that becomes all we think of.
Now lest you perceive that I made all this up, I now must reveal my source.
My eye chart is the Word of God, I’m sure you had no doubt, of course.

Here's the Word:

Ephesians 5:28 – 30 So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. 29 For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church. 30 For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

This verse makes it clear on the prescriptions for love but its not for only husbands and wives. The following verse tells us the mark of Christians is the evidence of love in our lives.

John 13:35 By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

So I hope that you see were I’m coming from, when I say that love is not blind.
Love can see to a deeper degree than what usually goes on in our mind.
I hope we would consider what we mean when we say “I love…” as we fill in the blank –That loves bifocals must be clearly in view. And that we have a God who IS love to thank.

In Him,
Cros