Further Up & Further In

Reckless Love

// Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. / Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the ninety-nine. / I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away. / Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God. //

Inspired by the song Reckless Love by Cory Asbury. 

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How deep can you love?

It was a passing thought in each of the children's hearts. How far can you love? How hard can you love? It may have been a challenge. How intense can you love? How richly? How boldly? How bravely? All answers seemed impossible.

Peter fought, firstly for his brother and sisters. It was always them, from the beginning. I love them, I'll keep them safe. What wouldn't he have done? And then, oh, for his people! Peter'd have given anything, everything. It was his duty, his promise, his vow. But somewhere down the line, far away from his kingdom, and far away from his family, he forgot how to be patient with them. He forgot how to fight for their hearts as much as their safety. He was a fighter, only a fighter, a most hopeless sort of lover.

Susan was gentle, of course. Gentleness seemed to come with love, she thought, and so she acted as gentle as she could. Of course she loved her family. They were her life. And her people? They were her duty. She loved them, with all the courage she could bear. For them, she'd fight. For love, she'd battle. Oh, but she forgot, didn't she? She left them all behind. She fought with them instead of for them, and she forgot the bravery that love had given her. Susan was someone else now, and she couldn't bear to be that person again. She couldn't bear to love like that again. It was all gone, gone gone...

Edmund pushed as hard as he could, but love isn't that avoidable. Besides, he was saved by love, and who was he to refuse it? So he learned to be wise, and he learned to fight, and he learned what it meant to be king and brother and son. Less a protector, more an avenger, but most of all, a boy. Only a boy. Oh, Edmund extended his hand as far as he could reach, but he never quite learned how to pick up the pieces. He gave his love in every way that he could, and still found that his heart wouldn't take it all in. He'd been betrayed, been the traitor, and now? What else could he do? He tried. He kept trying.

Lucy loved immediately. Too easily. Too clumsily. She had the heart to love her brother and the pride to push him out. Everyone saw the goodness in her, and she showed them all the kindness she had, but she only knew so much. And Lucy was brave, of course. She had to be. She fought for her people with any weapons she could use, and healed them with a different sort of ferocity, and then sent them on their way with a smile. She loved the way any child loves. She didn't know any better, didn't know any worse. But she got angry, and pushed away instead of pulling close. She got offended and chose harsh words over forgiveness. She could only take so much. She would only do so much.

How deep can you love?

It was hopeless. They saw it now. Everything they had still wasn't enough. As family, as royalty, as people, they failed. Fell short. Always. No matter what.

But they knew that love existed.

Overwhelming.

Never-ending.

Reckless.

It was there, and they knew it. So they chased it. Fought for it. They tried to give it away, as much as they knew they had received it. They fell short, and jumped a little higher the next time around. There was a love even greater than them, and it needed to be known.

It came to them as a quiet voice in the harshest storms. It came to them as sunlight through the leaves on a summer day. It came to them as the midnight thunder in the middle of their prayers. It came to them in shouts and rumbles and whispers and promises. It was the crack of stone, and the break of day.

Always. Always. Always...

A love they couldn't match.

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God.