the greatest love of all

I feel my age lately when I hear certain music or see reruns of certain movies. That happened to me recently. The movie Godspell was on, and I was alone in the house with nothing else to do. It aired on Turner Classics, so that tells you a bit of something! But viewers were reminded the movie is 34 years old, and was set in NYC, so there was a view of the "just being built" twin towers. The 70's for me were a time of spiritual renewal and Christian rebirth. Somehow the movie brought back to me the fresh innocence of that time, when the present moment and things in my life remind me I'm an old soldier in the faith. To hear the opening strains of Prepare Ye (the Way of the Lord) just sent chills up my spine and brought tears.

This isn't a self-flagellation of how perhaps my love for my God is old and cold and I need to yet again repent. It is a memory of a great love that still is great, and has withstood the test of time. New love is wonderful, heady and powerful because it is new. Old love is a steady flame continually nurtured by thousands of moments of surrender, and seeing faith rewarded. O, how I love Jesus, because He first loved me. His love is astonishing. I've just started reading a book on heaven that has helped pump the well of emotion and excitement again. But I know for myself, I long to live an eternity unhampered by my own failings with the only Friend who really knows me and has loved me through a lifetime. I long to be with Him. Other things in the world dazzle, but they cannot outshine the old love.

I'm not tired of living, but like Rich Mullens wrote in one of his incredible songs, the Jordan is waiting...I can't take my eyes off of those shores even as I live. My life is there.