I'm In, Are You?

He said to him,“You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37).

We drove along the stretch of the freeway where the speed limit dropped to forty-five miles per hour, and my neighbor looked over her shoulder and said, "He's not into you." I was defeated but only for a short time. "But if he knew me, if he really knew who I am, he would like me, right?" She kept her eyes on the road ahead, merging for our exit. "Maybe, hon. Maybe."

Sophomore year crushes on upperclassmen don't always end well and mine, well, it not only didn't end well, it never began. Because he never did get to know me, and he never did return my teen crush.

So when we're called by Jesus to love God with every single part of us, I sometimes freeze up. I don't know God, do I? I don't know all of Him. I don't really really know Who He is. It's the greatest mystery. So if I don't really truly know Him, how can I love Him?

I start by counting what I do know.

I know He created me out of love and holds me in existence. I know He guided me to marry an incredible man and has blessed us with four children and a fifth on the way. I know He's been there steadfast to hold my hand through the immense physical sufferings I've undergone, the nerve pain, unmedicated labor, ligaments torn. I know He gives Himself to me freely in the Blessed Sacrament. And I know He's funny, kind, thoughtful, considerate, and every other trait I admire in the people I know and love.

Maybe we don't have to know every inch of the mystery of the Divine before we love Him. Maybe we take the leap and find Him in the parabola of the leap. I know that I can keep holding back parts of my heart from Him, not allowing Him to love all of me. Or I can choose to turn all of myself towards Him and just let Him in.

He wants to love us and have us love Him. I'm in, are you?

Just let Him in. // @WholeParentingClick to tweet

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