On Saturday I went to an Art Gallery with Tom in the hope that ‘Special time with Mummy’ would help him deal with his issues about not going to school.

On the way, he decided to have a drink in a local café. We walked in, only to hear ‘Coming Home’ playing over the speaker system”¦ I had given the CD to the shop-owner some months ago, but hadn’t been in to chat to her since. I felt particularly blessed, especially with all the emotions of the last week. I sat down gratefully. It felt like a message from God for me and also for Tom that he would soon feel ‘at home’ in school.

Suddenly, a sign caught my eye. It said:
“LOVE LIKE YOU’LL NEVER GET HURT.”

God told me to buy it. I protested, telling myself it wasn’t my ‘style.’ But then I said in my heart, “I don’t want to love like that again Father. Look where it got me?” I was surprised at my reaction.
But again the voice came – a gentle, tender voice in my spirit, persuading me otherwise.

I bought the sign. Grumpily. I then wondered where I was going to put it”¦ I thought about a small dusty corner somewhere… before realising it was meant to go somewhere obvious for all to see. “All” mainly meaning ME. Oh good.

Yesterday the boys were playing in the kitchen. They were chasing each other, giggling and running round and round the table. I was in the midst of cooking the Sunday roast and was getting flustered that they were under my feet.

“Guys!” I shouted, “Stop it! One of you will get hurt.”

Ben smiled cheekily at me before running out of the kitchen with a parting comment, “We know!”

I could hear them laughing and playing up the stairs.

The truth is you can’t love people guardedly. That isn’t really love. You can’t love people without giving of yourself. That isn’t really love either. You can’t love people without being vulnerable. That is also not really love.

Love is unguarded. It is giving. It is vulnerable. It hurts. But it is also the very, very, very best way to live. I am learning that. With one eye shut.

Last night I shared this at church. I sensed that other people, like me, had felt they didn’t want to go down the road of truly loving others again. There were a few nods and tears as I shared this little picture. Hurt is part of the equation of love. It goes with the territory. There is no inoculation against it.

But I suspect that life to the full, that abundant, overflowing (‘Zoe’ in the Greek) kind of life is meant to be lived with this kind of love as standard. My boys were embracing this yesterday. They were having fun together and enjoying one another’s company. A bump on the head was worth it, right?

So I am going to try, albeit tentatively, to love others as though I won’t get hurt. Perhaps that is a challenge for you too? Perhaps you have just been so used to the barriers you don’t even know they are there. But the Holy Spirit does. And He can very gently, but very deliberately take them down. Do you want Him to? That’s the question.