Love Constantly

Dr. Gary Nelson

... disappears...

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"...what am I going to do with you? Your love for me disappears as quickly as morning mist; it is like dew, that vanishes early in the day. What I want from you is plain and clear: I want your constant love..." (Hosea 6:4-6)

I was already running almost late for a morning meeting when I passed the low-lying mist over the blooming pasture. "Wow, what a great a picture," I thought. "I'll get it on my way back." I barely finished the thought before reminding myself, "Wait a minute, the picture you want won't be there when you return. The mist will be gone." I turned around, stopped the car, and got the picture. Like morning mist, some things don't last. Love shouldn't be one of them.

"Do you still love me?" Ever been asked that question? If you have, then you know it can be rather startling. "What do you mean, do I still love you? Of course I still love you. Can't you tell?" Obviously, the answer is, "no," or the question would not have been asked. Unfortunately we don't always do a great job of communicating our love for one another over the long haul. We get lazy and sloppy. We forget that to truly love another is to cherish each other. To cherish another means to constantly move caring energy toward them. Of course, the intensity of that loving energy will ebb and flow, but it better not drop to the point that our partner wonders, "Do you still love me?" When loving energy drops to that level, it opens the door for other issues and conflicts that begin to destroy the relationship.

I'm one who is convinced that most relationships that fail do so because folks get sloppy and lazy with one another. The relationships don't fail because the couples first encounter huge irreconcilable problems. The sloppiness and laziness comes first. They're loving energy begins to wane and eventually, "disappears as quickly as morning mist." God's cry to the people of Israel through the prophet Hosea is the same as our cry to one another, "I want your constant love." Anything less means love will begin to fade like a morning mist. If someone is worth loving, then they're worth loving constantly. That's certainly God's message about how we're divinely loved -- constantly!

I pray that God will remind me when my love is anything less than "constant." How about you?

Blessings and Peace,
Gary
Pastor, Sand Hill United Methodist Church
Boaz, West Virginia


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