Power of Love

I don't know how many people actually read my blog. But I came across something recently while reading my text for the BCM extension class. I found the portion powerful to address many underlying issues that have been surrounding me. I hope you, yes you, read this and remember.

When the Song of Songs talks about love, it emphasizes the necessity that love be kept under control despite the passion, the longing, and the anticipation. These charactersitics must be controlled because they give love power over a person and that power can work in positive ways to overcome the obstacles of circumstances or work in negative ways as it breaks through barriers of propriety*. Love has this power whether applied to young unmarried sweethearts, those who are betrothed, newlyweds, or those married for decades. It's power is not only evident when the flames are burning, but then the flames are dying. This power is addressed directly in Song of Songs 8:6-7:

"Love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave.
It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house
for love, it would be utterly scorned**."

The love songs preserved in this book illustrates manty of the faces of love's power. A wise person must be aware of that power and recognize its faces and its dangers. Love and sex wield incredible power, and the wise person will understand that and learn to harness and discipline that area of his or her life.

- taken from pg 315 Bridging Context of Wisdom Literature, Old Testament Today, Walton&Hill.

[* or general standard of accepted conduct or manners. ]
[** treated with contempt or rejected. ]

Honestly, many of us don't even understand love or can claim to really. Maybe we do whatever that seems right in our eyes because we don't really understand or know. Wisdom comes when we humble ourselves to learn from others that has been there. And it takes a wise person to understand what has been said above... and hopefully take it into consideration and food or thought for our own sakes.