In over 45 years, as an ordained minister, how often have I thought and prayed, taught and preached about agapé (God’s selflessly sacrificial, impartial, unconditional) love?
Surely, in this temporal realm of existence, there is some definite number, but, as surely, I don’t know what it is. (Suffice it to say, countless times!)
Generally, when, from a human point of view, I contemplate agapé love, I consider it aspirational. For, believing that we are inherently, individually self-interested, all of our loving is fundamentally transactional. We, consciously or unconsciously (probably, a bit of both) give to get. Something. Always. However great or small. However tangible or immaterial. Therefore, completely unconditional love is beyond us. Always.
Nevertheless, when I consider the love of (in my experience, most) families and friends, I behold an odd kind of unconditionality. For families and friends, often enough, it seems…feels to me, love us out of some unmistakable, inescapable compulsion. As if they must love us whether they like it (or us) or not!
© 2023 PRA
occasional observations of mind and heart, soul and spirit 