Page France Inspiration

Yesterday, I was quite distracted while trying to write, and didn't get a chance to touch on some of the other thoughts I've had over the past few weeks, so I will elaborate now.

As I've said, I've been thinking a lot about love; the ways I give it, the ways I expect to recieve it, and the ways God has designed it. In the barn, I have tried my best to get them to play Page France on a regular basis, since clearly they are amazing, and singing their lyrics gives me comfort, often more so than the worship music that is also thrown into the mix, with it's live versions full of people screaming, or it's fast, drum-solo filled version of "in the secret".
A Page France lyric that sent me into a long train of thought was this:

"Love until your hands bleed"

I've obviously heard this lyric before, and contemplated it before perhaps, but it seemed to me so relevant to my thoughts lately that I couldn't help but take special note of it. What does this lyric really mean? What kind of love is required in order to make one's hands bleed? It implies action, it implies physical labour or deeds. It implies loving to the point of suffering, loving to the point of physical pain. It is the suffering of Jesus.

In my life, I have always given and recieved love in specific ways. It normally comes down to things like encouragements/compliments, gifts, touches/hugs, and quality time spent with a person. If I do not recieve those from someone, or if I do not see them portraying those specific things to me or other people, I assume that they know nothing of love, or that they have no idea how to show affection. But I'm starting to realize how wrong this type of thinking is. These types of affection are merely between humans. I limit my ideas of love then to only what humans are able to express in words or physical objects to one another. But as I contemplated loving until your hands bleed, I realized how many other ways people show love in this world, and not simply showing love to one another, but showing love to God.

One thing I have never mastered is a good work ethic. Most things in my life have come easily to me, and when they don't, I simply give up or move on and find something easier. If school had ever really been a struggle, I probably would have given up on it; if music had proven too difficult or time consuming, I surely wouldn't have pursued it like I have. Although I have been told that I have great leadership skills, I have never been given a promotion, and I care very little for my performance in most of the workplaces I've been in. This has never truly concerned me before, until I thought about it in the context of loving God through work.

Can one not show love through their work ethic? A man who suffers through a terrible job without complaint, a person who works hard without rest, a person who endures hardship for long periods of time....these actions have never occured to me to be acts of love before. But now, I see that if they are done out of obedience for God, then surely they are actions filled with love for God, and though they are not outwardly aknowledged, I find more and more that there is a time for outward action/love for God, and a time for inward, secret action/love.

What do I do out of love and obedience for God on a regular basis in secret, away from recogntion, away from reciprocation, away from showing love in a human-to-human kind of way....? Who's approval am I seeking? Could I ever love until my hands bled without complaint?