Give me love!

I was listening to Ed Sheeran on my iPod this morning while on the bus (totally awesome singer/song writer, check him out if you have the time!) when his song "Give me love" came on. It's a beautiful song but there is this one bit that gets to me everytime; Ed starts yelling "Give me love" in a way that is so heart rending, so emotional that you can almost feel the desperation in his desire to be loved.

I think this cry of his, this calling out for someone to love us, is at the core of every being. We all want to be loved in a way that is deep and meaningful, in a way that the person sees us as we really are, not all the pretentious crap that we put out for the world to see.

You know what I mean, we want someone who sees past the clothes, makeup, swagger, heels, language and money (or lack thereof) and sees the insecure, crazy, silly, stupid, funny, sensitive person that we try so desperately to protect all the time.

And this is why when relationships end it hurts so damn much.

If you think about it the whole idea of a meaningless relationship (call it friends with benefits, one night stand, fling, whatever) is an oxymoron.

Relationship implies a knowing of each other that allows for honesty and openness.

Relationship means understanding each others fears, or at least committing to the process of discovering them.

Doesn't sound very meaningless to me.

And, let's face it, no one comes out of a relationship of any kind unscarred.

Take a one night stand for example. I know plenty of girls and guys who will testify that you can have sex with someone and it mean nothing. It's just some harmless fun to get your jollies and then you are gone.

So explain to me why when the dude doesn't call the next day he is call a series of words, most that have to be spelt *****?

Tell me why you will avoid that person at any cost if you see them at the bar the next weekend?

Why is it called the 'walk of shame' if there is nothing wrong to be ashamed about?

If we start at this, the most fleeting of relationships, and go to a long term marriage ending, the most enduring of relationships, we will see that no relationship ending leaves people unhurt.

Because we all want love, and when that love ends or is not fulfilled or disenchants us, it hurts like a b***h.

The sad thing is that in this life all love will end. Be it through breakup or death, at some point the person that we love, that we scream "Give me love" to in our hearts, won't be with us any longer.

And that thought scares the bejeezus out of most people. So we substitute real relationships with 'meaningless' ones because it means that when it does end it can be on our terms. We can pretend that it didn't hurt, we can say 'I dumped them' and lie to ourselves about the damage in our own person.

Whoever said "it is better to have loved and lost than to never love at all" obviously had never been through a serious breakup. Most people I know avoid deep love because the possibility of losing it makes them scared and vunerable.

We are weak as humans.

We will hurt each other and break each other, unintentionally and sometimes for fun.

We want the power and we will fight each other for it.

And yet the cry still echoes;

"Give me love!"

There is only one person who can fill this deeply ingrained desire for love.

The very fact that this cry is in us from the time we are young points us towards a God who loves so unconditionally, so completely, that we will never be abandoned or hurt by them.

The only place to find this love is in the cross that Jesus sacrificed himself on, in the resurrection that brought him back to life, and in the forgiveness that he extends to all.

The cry doesn't need to go unanswered.

You ARE loved!