The greatest danger

I have faced a lot of scary situations in my life. I have been bitten by both Rattle snakes and Black widows. I have fallen off an eighty foot cliff and been shot at. I have been in bar fights and car accidents and I once found myself in the center of a school of angry Barracuda. All of these situations, no matter how adrenaline inducing, pale in comparison the greatest danger I have ever faced… love.

In order to love, we must make ourselves vulnerable; we must expose the soft of our bellies to the threat of the knife. In order to reciprocate love, we must wager everything we have against a pair of loaded dice. What happens when we roll snake eyes? When the one we love betrays us? When you place your soul on an alter, how much of it dies with the stab of rejection?

It may be that the ability to love is handed to us in a chalice, brimming with potential. Perhaps it is our duty to go through life with this chalice, sharing its contents with those who in return, reciprocate the offering. But when the other drinks of your cup and then walks away without offering their own, you are left with a diminished chalice. When this happens, our trust in love recedes like a ebbing tide. Our ability to love fades like moonlight in the approaching dawn. The question is, is it better to have loved and lost or to never have loved at all? Does there come a point when the possibility of a broken heart will silence the “hello” that could open the door to new love? How much hurt can one endure before the pain of memory overpowers the promise of tomorrow?

Love is without question the most frightening thing a man or woman can ever face. It is the biggest gamble we will ever take and the stakes are high. Nothing but love can flood a spirit with light and joy, and nothing but love can plunge a soul into darkness and despair. Love is terrifying, and yet I say that God has filled our chalice for a reason, a purpose and though I may tremble, I will offer it willingly. Despite my shaking hand and pounding heart, I will not cower; I will not let uncertainty cloud the path to my tomorrow.

I would rather my tombstone say “He loved with every drop he had” than “He died with a full cup”.

How say you?