by Courtney Hilbert
“We always believe our first love is our last, and our last love is our first.” Unknown
As a writer, the palette of love provides innumerable shades of color with which to paint a story.
Despite the rainbow of choices there is a preset pattern that all romance novels follow:
Boy Meets Girl.
Boy Falls for Girl.
Boy and Girl are Torn Apart.
Boy Wins Girl Back.
But romance novels aren’t real life, right?
I disagree.
I think we are all characters in the greatest romance novel of all time – the story of God and His Beloved Creation.
God in all of His infinite wisdom fell in love with us on the day of our creation and since that day He has been wooing us into a relationship with Him.
In turn how have we treated His love?
We run away – come back – run away – come back and run away again in a strange dance of courtship that must hurt Him with each rejection letter we send.
And yet, like a truly besotted lover, He continues to woo us with His love – giving us gifts of infinite and immeasurable value.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
God gave us His greatest treasure in an act of sacrificial love so significant we cannot fathom how truly devastating the loss of His son by His side – even for a brief twinkle of time – was for Him.
But, like so many heroes and heroines in the love stories throughout history – we turn away from our Suitor choosing to chase after things of destruction and brokenness, rather than seeing the love waiting for us in our own True Beloved.
How can we stop running? How do we find our individual ways out of the cycle of separation?
We pull a Paul Harvey and read “the rest of the story”.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth…..I saw the Holy City…prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God…for the old order of things has passed away.” Revelation 21:1-4 (excerpt)
As all great romances end with: Boy gets Girl.
Our love stories with God are no different.
He is wooing us with the knowledge that we will be completely and wholly together with Him – one day soon.
But how do we accept the love that is being offered to each of us in our own love story?
We live choosing to in love rather than in leave.
We live like we read the last page of the novel every day.
We live with the knowledge that God is our great Beloved.
We live – learning each day – what the essence of love is from the Creator of love.
And we live in a life-long romance novel believing this truth…
And they lived happily ever after.
Now, that is a great way to end a story.
I guess God really is the Author of our lives.