Available Love

...for he has said, "I will never fail you nor forsake you." --Hebrews 13:5

I was involved in an automobile accident four years ago. A man in another car ran through a red light and hit me. My car was severely damaged, and I did not have another vehicle. Several friends told me how sorry they were about my situation. Many of them added something like "If there's anything we can do..." One friend, Bob, never made such a statement. He heard about the accident, called, and said, "For a few days we can get by with one car. We'd like to lend you our second car." Bob's love was available to me.

Often we want to spend time with our friends, but only at our convenience. There are times when we wish to be alone and resent the intrusion of other people and their problems. We like to choose our availability.

Yet true love is available at all times. That doesn't mean I always feel loving, or that I always feel good about being disturbed. But if I really love you I am available to you.

True lovers make themselves available to each other. Available to listen, to talk, to touch, to hold. Available lovers echo the words from Hebrews, "I will never leave you" (see KJV).

We understand that promise because Jesus Christ gives us the perfect model. God says he will never leave us, and that he will never fail us in any way. True lovers work at imitating that ideal.

Faithful Lord, as we appreciate your availability, may we learn always to be available to each other. Amen.