Voicing Our Needs...

 It's amazing how sometimes the most profound truths can be discovered in the most obscure and unexpected places... 

It simply fell out of a box in the attic, and I happened to look down - a tiny decal long-hidden amongst the piles of junk which simply read, "I need loving care." 

I smiled. 

Isn't it crazy how there are moments when you're reminded of what you most need and the timing couldn't be more impeccable? These are moments you can only attest to the intentionality of God. And this was one of them. Because for days I'd been wrapped in unpacking the worst of my past and learning to name the un-named and facing what I've avoided and figuring out what it means to move forward in love on so many levels and now here... this... a tiny but powerful reminder. 

We're all dealing with love deficits in some way and wise was the one who once said that so much would resolve itself if we each had the love we needed and just maybe the whole of life is figuring out how to give that type of love to one another and become a little more like the Love-Giver Himself. 

I find it remarkable in a way... when so many of us know that love is our deepest craving and when we're all walking around making withdrawals on each other's love account all the time... that we find it so hard to voice when and how we need that loving care. That it's often easier to let our love deficits manifest themselves in words that cut, tempers that wound, and all manner of actions and feelings that we fail to recognize as a cry for help. As an unmet desire for a bigger love deposit. 

Oh, it's secondary nature to speak the words of "I love you," but we all know it's harder to live them. Harder to sacrifice for them. Harder to show them. Because unless we've been romanced in the soul by a love greater than ourselves, all other loves will leave us empty. unfulfilled. hungry. 

Somehow, we feel it a weakness to voice our deepest need for care. Care humanity can provide as well as care only He can provide. It's as if we'd rather hide our inner longings than bring them into the open to have them met... most likely out of fear. Out of fear of being exposed. Out of fear of being called too soft. Out of fear of seeming too needy. Too dependent. Too emotional. 

Yet... aren't we all needy? Dependent? Emotional? Were we not originally created for love and by Love? Are we not called to supply on some level a sense of safety, wellness, and comfort for those with whom we share this place called earth? 

Are we not beings made in His image whose primary existence is to lean on, look to, and be supplied by? If self-sustaining was what it was all about, what need would we have for Him and for each other? 

I stare again at that simple little decal, decades old. Black background with words encased in a yellow heart and I wonder to myself what life would be like if I - if you - felt safe enough to shout it out loud when necessary: 

I. Need. Loving. Care. 

Loving care that looks like words of life spoken over us. Loving care that looks like gentleness and authenticity. Loving care that looks like intentionality... yes, just the kind He shows in such moments as these. Loving care that looks like hope in the darkest days. Loving care that looks like self-sacrifice and awareness. Loving care that ultimately looks like Jesus. Because, after all, weren't we made to be the Divine Lover's reflection?