What is strength? October 26, 2009
Posted by Margaret Hebron in love, musings.Tags: christianity, love
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Everyone knows that what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger, and I have definitely found this to be true in my own life. Today I was thinking about the hard times in my life and I had another thought. Perhaps the hard times are also what teach you to love deeply. I have never thought of it this way, but I think it’s true. If I think about the dark times in life, when I have been lonely or fearful or mourning the loss of something precious, those are the times that made me a deeper person. And what does becoming a deeper person do but allow you to love others in a more profound way?
So that begs the question… is strength the ability to love deeply?
I get what you’re getting at here but I don’t necessarily agree with your conclusion. I can think of lots of things that can cause you to love deeply without being hard: a mother’s love for a child, a conversation with a significant other, spending time abroad.
I think the ability to love deeply is a conscious decision. It is easy to feel your day with mindless tasks. It’s those times when we pursue that make us deeper: spending time with prayer with God, writing poetry, taking a friend out to coffee to talk about life, opening your eyes to the World around you.
In my mind strength is doing the right thing regardless of whether it is easy. Strength is being a stabilizing presence when everything is falling apart. Strength is wisdom. Strength is loving deeply.
Why so dismissive, Irvin?
Not dismissive. I think that strength can be the ability to love deeply I just don’t necessarily see a strong correlation between the two phrases.