EXTRAVGANT LOVE

I wrote my favorite guy a poem about extravagant love. He wanted me to share it with you. I politely declined. Instead, I am posing these questions to you.

When did you last experience an act of extravagant love? When did you last love extravagantly?

Extravagant is an adjective used to describe what one might think of as exceeding the unreasonable use of resources…an act that might be considered absurd or over the top. Most of us probably thought about money as you read the questions. I think extravagant love has little to do with monetary value and more with the heart and attitude of the giver and recipient.

I am not being arrogant or being hubris when I claim that I am loved extravagantly. Money is a minor part of this claim. I see and experience extravagance in the tiny but significant changes that occur in my relationships with people. Extravagance came into full display when I cultivated my desire to see the abundance of blessings that flood my life daily.

Just before Christmas, I attended the fiftieth birthday celebration of a person that I met in the middle of the pandemic. We became girlfriends. She invited fifty of her closest friends to the party. It was an honor to be among the fifty. Of the slightly less than fifty women in the room, I knew three by name including my friend.

We were lavishly fed and entertained royally.

She is a soft spoken and gentle woman. When given the mic to speak, her extravagance was fully displayed. Filled with determination and courage and without notes, she called each attendee by name, had them stand and spoke eloquently of her love and appreciation for each of us. She went beyond her gentle soft-spoken self, stepped out of her comfort zone to express her feelings. This loving action had nothing to do with money. On that cold December evening, she laid her love on the table and we all feasted.

Were I a betting woman, I would wager that none of us remember what we ate or drink that evening. I would bet that we all remember how her extravagant show of love made us feel individually and collectively.

1 John 3:3

PONDER THIS THOUGHT---The chief deterrent to extravagant love is fear of giving it and being rejected.