To the End

Jesus, having loved His own....loved them to the end. (John 13:1)

He loved them to the end.
No holding back.
No self-preservation.
All His eggs in one basket.

I tend to pull back if I know I'm going away.
I tend to pull back if I know you're going away.

I tend to divide my eggs into different baskets
so I won't get too hurt
if life happens and I break all the eggs
in one of my baskets.

But Jesus doesn't do that.

What would our relationships look like
if we loved people until the end-
Not the end of our relationship with them
but to the end of our lives?

Would we serve them more?
Lay our lives down more?
Make fewer conditions for loving?
Build lower walls?
Be wounded more?
Resolve conflict better?

I don't know.
I do know that I don't know how to love like that.

But He does.
And He lives in me
and His love is shed abroad in my heart
so I too,
can love my own-
all those God has given me,
until the very end.
My very end.

I like thinking about loving the people
I love today
to my very end.
Maybe I'll love them until tomorrow.
Maybe I'll love them until my hair is white
and my eyes are dim.

But whether my end is tomorrow
or 30 years from now,
I want to love you until my very end.