The Court

Love is what holds me together. Not the love between a man and a woman, not the "love" portrayed by culture, not even the love of my friends and family, though that love is what keeps me from staying in my room all day with my yo-yo and a Pop-Tart. Not a love that is an emotion or an abstract idea. Not the love that makes people fuzzy inside. What holds me together everyday is Love with a capital L. Love that is a force from Heaven. A Love that saw me sitting in the dungeon of my sin, the devil's shackles around my wrist and guilt forcing me farther and farther into the wall, that same Love saw me at my most helpless, but before we go to what that Love did, shall we remember how I got there? I was in the King's Castle. My God placed me into perfection and told me it was mine, then I spat in His face and ran, staining His carpet as I left. I spat and His face and led myself to the door. Not the door outside the castle mind you, the door to the dungeon. It seemed more exciting to me then the Courts of the King, so down those creaking steps I went. My feet hit the cold brick floor. Then out jumped the devil with His shackles, the enemy of the King and there I sat. Evil on all sides with my ignorance being the only thing to blame. I was their on my own accord. It was no one's fault but my own and now I had an eternity in shackles to look forward to. Now, back to Love. Love came to the door, embodied as the Prince. He opened the dungeon door and the light streamed in. Oh, what a light. As the brightest sun in the darkest cave, piercing the darkness like it was the armor of the evil one and spreading to destroy all the night. That was simply His entrance, the hope that came before the salvation. He crushed the devil, opened my shackles and set me free. I began to walk away, only to look behind me and see the Prince look at me and then back to the wall. He smiled, turned back and shackled Himself to that wall, as the light began to envelop Him. Because that's how it had to be. Because if I was to re-enter the Court, someone had to stay in the dungeon. That is Love. Though it doesn't end there. As I re-enter the upper level of the Castle, blinking at the intense brightness, I see the King. He welcomes me as His own and the life as His prince begins, but before then, there comes a sound. From behind me the dungeon door cracks. Not simply crack, but shatter into nothingness. Then the Prince exits, the shackles still on His hands, but the chain completely obliterated. that is the Love that is mine on a daily basis. The Love that keeps me moving. The Grace that is enough and the force that will conquer all. In Christ alone will I survive, not simply survive, but live. And live to the fullest.