Love's Disability

I arrive back into the blogosphere, after my self imposed hiatus, like a triumphant donkey rider invading the wild wild world of cyber space. Descending down crowded cyber streets, bursting into e-Jerusalem…with no welcoming mats and peasants singing praises at my arrival. No worries, the plebeians never recognise royalty. Or deity.

In one phrase, I am back.

In the last few months I have grown up considerably… although to watch my daily exhibition of foolery and mayhem would be to think otherwise. *Insert pensive pose here.* Despite the many other-wise thinkers and nay-sayers, I stand resolute in my declaration that I have indeed grown up.*Puffs out chest and points to sky*. I am not the same.

*Key inspirational music*

One thing I have learnt a little more about in my recent grown & sexy musings is about love. Yes children, not lurrve, not luv, or lv or lov, or V….lol, ok I don’t know who says ‘V’…but I mean L.O.V.E, Love. Not infatuation, intense like, warming concern, I mean LOVE! That great emotion that fuses all of those; Infatuation, Like, Concern and so much more, into one. I'm amazed at myself, a few months ago I honestly believed love was simply a concept created by selfish people to get their way. Seriously, how else do you explain people justifying foolishness in the name of love?! Take for instance the case of a woman who, several years after making vows before God and man and birthing several children that depend on a balanced two parent home for well rounded support, declares “Toby, I am no longer in love with you, I am leaving you for our post man. You must understand that I'm in love and mUst follow my heart”. Two days later I'm watching Toby on the Crime TV arrested for eating his wife’s heart.

Morbid humour, I apologise.

Actually I wonder what the origin of this word is. Wait, I'm off to wiki it.

*Back* Didn’t find it on wiki, thank the geeks for Google!

“The word love goes back to the very roots of the English language. Old English lufu (sounds like the igbo pronounciation!) is related to Old Frisian luve, Old High German luba, Gothic lubo. There is a cognate lof in early forms of the Scandinavian languages. The Indo-European root is also behind Latin lubet meaning it is pleasing and lubido meaning desire. The word is recorded from the earliest English writings in the 8th century.”
-GOOGLE.


With all the wondrous things that Love is, its little wonder that we very quickly lose sight of its many incapabilities. Love’s Disability I call it. As a world, we have conditioned ourselves to believe that love; the all consuming, unassuming, fully-loaded potential-filled feeling has the power to do all things; cancel debts, cover a multitude of sins, leap over tall buildings unaided etc. But I'm not sure I agree. Sure the bible speaks of such awe-inspiring love…but in what context? Biblical love manages to live up to all its professions simply because of its inhuman nature. Love, 1 Corinthians 13 Love, describes the same kind of love that Romans 8:35 confirms. A love that gives constantly in the face of distress, peril and persecutuion and expects nothing in return. A love that is patient even in a “Girl Hol’ My Earrings’ moment. A love that is kind, that rejoices in truth no matter how bitter that truth is. I humbly suggest that this is a standard that humans can ever only aspire to because it is divine in nature. Not human.

It’s the kind of love that can only come from one who plays the dual role of Lover AND Creator. Think about this; it is only a deity, God Himself, that took the time to create a face like Dennis Rodman’s orangutanic visage, that can afford to favour him with such a love as that described in 1 Cor 13, because in making him He knew everything about him…and chose to love him regardless. Well, only God and Dennis’ mama (who incidentally also plays the role of both lover and creator).



As humans we can only give a fraction of this brand of love but because it comes from the Giver of all true and pure love, it is enough. However, the question that plagues me is that we as a people have been conditioned to believe that Love contains some magic powers that can cure the Human in us and injects us with some godlike propensities to perform Herculean exploits.

What magic powers do you think LOVE contains that allows it to erase the humanity in us and make us gods?

In recent times I’ve had to contemplate this billion Naira query often whispered in a tear choked voice; “If you loved me as you claim, you would not have cheated would you?!” The standard answer from hurt women all over the world is a big “NAY!” or to expound “NAY! IF YOU REALLY LOVED ME THE LOVE WOULD HAVE STOPPED YOU FROM CHEATING!” Now, I would have been at the fore front of the Women Speaking Out protest nodding merrily along with the best of them but truth be told, recent events have made me stop mid-nod and re-access my stance. Your love for me and my love for you does not extinguish the human in me. Your love only improves on the flawed human that I am, sometimes so much so that I am so far from what I was that I may be considered “…a different person!”

Love is not a magic potion that wipes away the realities of our humanity. They still remain. It is up to each of us to constantly make an effort to discipline those parts of our humanity that shield the deity present in each of us, deposited at creation (Genesis 2:7).