Love always asks more of us.
–Wendy J. MacLean 

Love always asks more of us.

Love didn’t ask me
to say yes to everything.
Love asked me
why I wanted to.

Love didn’t ask me
to shove my fear aside and trust.
Love asked me
to befriend my fear
and wonder what it wants to do for me. 

Love didn’t ask me
to put away my rage.
Love asked me
to have tea with it.

Love didn’t expect me
to do what Jesus asks.
Love asked me
to keep trying. 

Love didn’t keep a record of my wrongs,
didn’t shame, blame, judge, punish or give up on me.
Love told me
to run home
to God’s prodigal embrace.

Love always asks more of us.
Love asks us
to come into the light when we want to hide in the dark.
Love asks us
to love ourselves when we think we don’t deserve it.
Love asks us
to hope when that feels like
the scariest thing in the world to do.

Love never fails
to question our beliefs,
beg us to forgive,
and awaken us to know that
 Love is never gone,
simply waiting to be found.

Love asks still more of us.
Love asks us
to listen to our bodies,
care for the earth,
and love our neighbours as ourselves.
Love asks us
to do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God.
Love asks us
to try and fail
and try and fail
and do it again
and again.

Love doesn’t ask us to
do it all or do it well.
Love doesn’t even ask us
to do small things with great love.
Love asks us
to do this small thing with the love we have.

Love always asks more of us
and Love never gives up.

Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ.
–Ephesians 5:2 (NLT)

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Love Mischief for the World

“Weeks into the war, Russian missiles struck the Ukrainian Evangelical Theological Seminary in Kyiv, blowing out most of the windows and causing extensive damage to the buildings. Reverend Ivan Rusyn is president of the seminary. His faith in God has only gotten stronger–but he has a different perspective on pacifism than he did before the war.” (Tapestry, June 10, 2022) You can listen to Mary Hynes interview Rev Ivan Rusyn on this CBC podcast. 

What love mischief are you and God doing for the world?
Let me know and I will include it in an upcoming post.

Credits and References:
Opening quote from the poem Equinox Scales by Wendy J. MacLean in On Small Wings.
“Love Asks for More” written by Esther Hizsa.
The poem references 1 Corinthians 13, Luke 15:11-31 and Micah 6:8 and Mother Teresa’s quote, “Do small things with great love.”
It also refers to previous blog posts particularly Having Tea with My Rage
Illustration Depicting Oliver Twist Asking for More Food by J. Mahoney Rightsholder: Supplier Corbis, Supplier NTB scanpix Source: http://www.scanpix.no Creative Commons Licence.
“Love” by Theophilos Papadopoulos. Used with permission.

© Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim, 2022.
The unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without permission from Esther Hizsa is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used provided there is a link to the original content and credit is given as follows: © Esther Hizsa, An Everyday Pilgrim 2013-2022.  http://www.estherhizsa.com