A Place of Infinite Possibilities

I was thinking today about people in my life whom I have loved. Once we love someone, I'm not sure that we can ever stop. The love may change...it may become less consuming or morph into a more gentle, caring kind of love...but I think it is still there. There have been times, usually at the end of a relationship, when I have told people that I loved, that I would always love them. While this is true, the thought came to me today that a better way to say this might be that they will always be in my heart.

This thought reminded me of a conversation I had with a Christian several years ago. They said that they did not believe in dating, they believed in courtship. Basically, what this meant was that the couple would never be alone together. They would only be together in group settings such as a community picnic, a family dinner, or a church softball game. If all went well, if the pair seemed compatible and the families approved, the couple would get engaged and, eventually, married. This seemed odd to me, so I asked why the couple couldn't just date. That seemed like a much simpler, easier, and probably faster way to determine compatibility. I was told that if a couple dated, spending a lot of time alone together, especially if anything physical happened (even goodnight kisses), strong feelings could develop. Then, if things didn't work out, neither of the pair would be able to give their whole heart to their spouse (assuming they eventually found them) because a portion of it was taken by the person they dated.

Regardless of the respective merits of dating and courtship, I think that this view of the heart is much too limited. I believe that loving is always good and that the heart is infinite. No matter how many people we love, there is always room to love one more...and the purity of that love need never diminish. Actually, I think the more we love, the more like God we become. He holds us all in His heart at all times and loves all of us to the extreme.