Love and Hard Times

Love isn't made for the good times.

We may *feel* it more

As we smile, laugh

And bask in sunshine.

We might more consciously

Acknowledge it,

At our child's first homerun.

It is deeply expressed

At someone's well-timed hug

We may notice it more then

We may relish it more deeply then

But love wasn't built

For when things are easy.

Love's thick skin

Was crafted to withstand

The deepest of insults

Love's patient manner

Is uniquely inexhaustible against

The actions of the unlovable

Love is a Samurai

On life's battlefield

Unmatched in the art of war

Against ignorance, evil and apathy

Love cannot help but ... love

It cannot help but forgive

It's very nature

Will not allow it

To take advantage, disrespect

Or do less than Jesus would

It is love that didn't even consider

Turning stone into bread

It stared down The Accuser

Confidently unblinking

Not shrinking,

But, instead, challenging evil,

Daring it to make its next move

It is love that saves marriages

It was love that healed the blind

And raised the dead

Like it was just another Tuesday

It was love that walked out of the grave

After giving death a beatdown

Love is He Who holds death keys

And offers life

When life serves up a

Plate-full of calamity

It is best to wash it down

With Love.

- S.T.I.L.