22.5 Ton Capacity

I saw a tool at work today that said 22.5 ton capacity on it. That’s a lot of weight. This tool is designed to hold the fuselage of a Boeing 737. It’s hard to believe a piece of machinery that heavy (the airplane, not the tool, the tool itself weighs 50,000 pounds) can defy the laws of gravity, lift and thrust to get off the ground and fly. (This is one of many MANY things I don’t understand in life. I’m kind of like the mom on the Waterboy that tells her son that alligators are ornery because they got all those teeth and no toothbrush, I would make up things for my kids when they asked why, but was afraid it would backfire on me, so I had to quit. Of course, my kids never believed me they were smarter than me by 2nd grade.)
I thought a lot about a tool that will hold 22.5 tons. I have no frame of reference for that. I know it’s more than I can lift. When I lift weights, I can curl a 40 barbell, and by the tenth rep, my muscles are quivering. 22.5 ton capacity would hold anything I can imagine.

This is how I see God’s love for me. He has a 22.5 ton capacity for love. (Okay, I know his love has no limit.) I have questioned how God could love me, and I love the answer. He just does. He loves me because He is God.
Love is ordained by God. I believe love is a Spiritual concept. Not spiritual as in crystals, karma and Buddha, but Spiritual in that it comes from God. I read 1 Corinthians 13 and in the list of things love doesn’t do, I do some of them. I’ll spare you the gruesome details and not list the ones I struggle with. I will say that this passage is in the back of my mind most of the time, because I use this when dealing with my family and those I love. Love doesn’t fly off the handle means I don’t fly off the handle at my kids when they do stupid things. Love cares more for others than for self means I take care of Steve first, even if it means not getting what I want, and trust that he loves me this way in return. And since he is good to me, I’m pretty confident that he does.
I’m giving you this passage, from the Message. Mostly because I loved the words “love extravagantly”. I have some work to do, because I want to show extravagant love to everyone in my life. I know that if I start looking for ways to show love, I will find them. I CAN love more. I have plenty of love to give, so Happy Valentine’s Day from me. No flowers, no chocolates, no jewelry (unless you win the bracelet), just a heartfelt I love you!
1 Corinthians 13 ~ The Way of Love
1 If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3 -7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere. So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love. Love never gives up. Love cares more for others than for self. Love doesn't want what it doesn't have. Love doesn't strut, Doesn't have a swelled head, Doesn't force itself on others, Isn't always "me first," Doesn't fly off the handle, Doesn't keep score of the sins of others, Doesn't revel when others grovel, Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth, Puts up with anything, Trusts God always, Always looks for the best, Never looks back, But keeps going to the end.
8 -10Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled. 11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good. 12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us! 13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.