This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. (1 John 3:16-18)

Loved lavishly,
beyond understanding,
as Jesus lowered Himself,
laid His life down for us
to the uttermost lengths,
even dying for us
to show in real bodily life
the depths of divine love.

This love,
not abstract but enfleshed,
not generalized but particular and personal—
this love,
this divine love become human,
strong arms with tender touch,
all powerful yet perfectly humble,
applied to us in overwhelming,
yet all,-wise manner.

We, too, are conduits
of this divine love—
receiving first, savoring first, overwhelmed first,
but then giving, offering, overflowing
from God to us
to others and onward.

Lord, give me grace
to receive and give,
to be overwhelmed
but also to overflow,
and to know in wisdom and faith
what that it looks like
for love to become enfleshed
in my very human life.